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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent 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 the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 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 using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.