"French appeals court hands harsher sentence to Gisèle Pelicot's rapist"

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed construction worker, had challenged his initial conviction from last year. His retrial took place this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

On Thursday, a jury of five men and four women, alongside three judges, found Dogan guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019. Evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, had communicated with Gisèle’s then-husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online forum titled "without her knowledge." There, Pelicot sought men to assault his wife after rendering her unconscious with drugs.

Antoine Camus, representing Gisèle Pelicot, stated to the court: “We hope the jury affirms that in this country, human rights unequivocally include women’s rights—that consent is individual and cannot be given by another person, including a spouse.”

Dominique Pelicot, one of the most notorious offenders in recent French legal cases, received a 20-year prison sentence last year for drugging his wife and arranging for numerous men to assault her at their home in the Provençal village of Mazan over nearly ten years of marriage.

Last year’s widely publicized trial convicted 50 other men, with Dogan being the sole defendant to appeal. Originally sentenced to nine years, his prison term was increased to ten years on Thursday. The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued for a 12-year sentence, citing Dogan’s “complete refusal to acknowledge responsibility.”

According to court testimony, Dogan sent explicit photos to Dominique Pelicot before driving an hour from his village to commit the assault, having told his wife he was stepping out for the night.

Pelicot, temporarily brought from solitary confinement to testify, stated that Dogan knew his wife was sedated. Prosecutors read messages in which Pelicot told men, “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unknowingly.”

The case sparked broader discussions about societal attitudes toward sexual violence, as Dogan maintained his innocence, arguing that since Pelicot’s husband had invited him, the act was permissible.

The court reviewed footage showing Gisèle Pelicot motionless and unresponsive while Dogan assaulted her over three and a half hours, according to police. The presiding judge noted she could have died from suffocation. Prosecutors emphasized that her unconscious state made consent impossible.

Dogan insisted the footage merely depicted "a sexual encounter" and denied any wrongdoing, calling it "a consensual act involving three individuals."