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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his jail term raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

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

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger 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 stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he sought paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.