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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

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

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing 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 main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.