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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.