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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 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 assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.