🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

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

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.