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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, 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 permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.