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A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation 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 invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.