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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed 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 Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the first trial.