France's Appeal Court Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in 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.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.