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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern 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 called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.