🔗 Share this article France's Appeal Tribunal Uphighers Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to 10 years. Retrial Proceedings Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes. A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019. The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep. We expect the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.” Background The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union. Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade. The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”. Courtroom Details The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed. The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.” The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible. The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed. Defendant's Statements The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.” Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.” Survivor's Statement The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.” Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.” Legal Commentary The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.” Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.” Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.” Biographical Details The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets. He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.