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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.