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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting 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 convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

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

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

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

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.