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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher 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 Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in 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.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

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

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.