🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced 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 blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.