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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.