France's Appeal Court Raises Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence 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”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived 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 accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the original case.