🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours 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 named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the original case.