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A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial 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 sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, 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 hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the course of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.