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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question 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 assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the original case.