🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.