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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.