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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your case.”

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: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.