French Appeal Tribunal Raises Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.