France's Higher Tribunal Raises Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, 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 extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.