🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

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

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom 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 committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to 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 hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.