An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period increased to a decade.
Appeal Trial
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.
We trust the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”
Context
The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.
Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.
The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Evidence Presented
Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.
Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”
The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.
The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.
Dogan's Claims
The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”
Pelicot's Words
The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
Legal Commentary
Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”
Sie told the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”
Personal History
The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.
He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the first trial.
