France's Higher Court Increases Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

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

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the first trial.