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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial 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 residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the first trial.