An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.
Higher Court Case
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.
We trust the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”
Background
The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.
Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.
The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.
Courtroom Details
The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.
Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”
The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.
The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.
Defendant's Statements
The defendant stated to 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 stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”
Victim's Response
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
State's Argument
Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your situation.”
Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”
The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”
Personal History
The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.
He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the first trial.
