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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. 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 home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the first trial.