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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported 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 put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.