France's Appeal Tribunal Increases Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

A man was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial 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 the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the first trial.