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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared 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 wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the first trial.