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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial 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 early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the original case.