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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

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

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent 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 evicted him of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.