France's Appeal Tribunal Increases Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years 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 Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.