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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, 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 enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

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

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the first trial.