🔗 Share this article France's Higher Tribunal Raises Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period increased to a decade. Appeal Trial Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes. A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019. The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state. We trust the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.” Background The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage. Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years. The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”. Evidence Presented Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed. The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.” The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible. The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed. Accused's Testimony Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.” Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.” Pelicot's Words The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.” Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.” State's Argument The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.” Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.” The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.” Defendant's Background The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness. He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.