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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker 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 wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.