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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told 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 central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. 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 challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.