A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence increased to ten years.
Higher Court Case
Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.
A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.
“We hope the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”
Context
The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.
Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.
The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.
The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”
The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.
The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.
Dogan's Claims
The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”
Survivor's Statement
The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
State's Argument
The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”
Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”
Biographical Details
The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.
He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.
