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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed 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. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.