An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.
Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.
We expect the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”
The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.
Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.
The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.
Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”
The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.
The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, 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 permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your case.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”
Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”
Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.
He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the first trial.
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