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A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

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

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the first trial.