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A man was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. 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 twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told 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 abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation 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: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father 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 faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.