French Higher Tribunal Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious 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 three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished 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 Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the original case.