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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

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

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.