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A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood 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 primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. 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 court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.