🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.