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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

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

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the original case.