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A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.