A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to ten years.
Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.
We expect the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”
The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.
Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.
The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.
Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”
The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.
The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.
The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”
The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”
Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”
Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are supporting.”
The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.
He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.
Elena Hartwell is a multidisciplinary artist and educator passionate about fostering creative communities in London.