France's Appeal Tribunal Increases Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.