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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.