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An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

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

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.