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A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.