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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant 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 told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that once a year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.