France's Appeal Court Uphighers Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the original case.