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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

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 originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.