🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.