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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused 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 unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported 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 raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

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

Sie said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.