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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.