A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his jail term raised to 10 years.
Retrial Proceedings
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.
We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”
Background
Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term 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 community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.
Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.
The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.
Evidence Presented
The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.
The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”
The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.
The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.
Accused's Testimony
Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”
Survivor's Statement
The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity 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 refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”
The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”
Defendant's Background
The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.
He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.
