🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. 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 invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.