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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.