An individual was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period increased to 10 years.
Retrial Proceedings
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction 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, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.
We expect the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”
Case History
The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.
Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.
The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.
Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”
The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.
The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.
Dogan's Claims
The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”
Victim's Response
The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
Prosecutor's Remarks
Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”
Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”
Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”
Biographical Details
Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.
He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.
