France's Higher Tribunal Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the first trial.