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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.