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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting numerous individuals 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 union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, 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 intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.