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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

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

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.