French Appeal Court Uphighers Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

A man was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home 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 husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep 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 innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” 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 attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.