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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling 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 appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate 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 welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.