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A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.