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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting 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 marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, 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.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the process of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence 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: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.