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A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the midst of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, 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 intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.