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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known 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 without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, 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 regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the original case.