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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men 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.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the original case.