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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village 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 give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

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

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the original case.