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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile 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 penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture 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 culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system 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 father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the original case.