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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum 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 comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.