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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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 panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to 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 had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.