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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.