🔗 Share this article France's Appeal Tribunal Uphighers Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Rapist An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to 10 years. Higher Court Case Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes. A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019. The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state. We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.” Background The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage. Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade. The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”. Testimony and Proof The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated. Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.” The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable. The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented. Dogan's Claims The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.” Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.” Pelicot's Words Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.” Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.” State's Argument The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.” Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.” Sie said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.” Biographical Details The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused. He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.