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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following 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 unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

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

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality 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 blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.