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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

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

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.