French Higher Tribunal Raises Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy 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 refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard 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 challenging existence. Dogan had told a court psychologist that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.