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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

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

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. 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 court psychologist that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.