France's Appeal Tribunal Increases Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Perpetrator

A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

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

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected 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 home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

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

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.