🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware 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 without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero 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 Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of 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 parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.