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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.