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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’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.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up 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 refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.