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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

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

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.