🔗 Share this article French Higher Tribunal Increases Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Rapist A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence increased to ten years. Retrial Proceedings Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes. A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019. The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state. We trust the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.” Context The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade 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 sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years. The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”. Courtroom Details The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard. Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.” The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible. The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented. Defendant's Statements The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.” Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.” Survivor's Statement Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.” The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.” Prosecutor's Remarks Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the process of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.” The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.” Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.” Personal History Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for trafficking 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 main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.