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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant 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 concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.