🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The 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 given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.