Witnesses testify defendant ‘fully aware’ he was assaulting Gisele Pelicot
Witnesses have testified that defendant Husamettin Dogan was “fully aware” that Gisele Pelicot was asleep while he was assaulting her, as his appeal unfolds in a French court in the southern city of Nimes.
Dogan, a 44-year-old construction worker, was one of 50 men convicted of sexually abusing Pelicot in a landmark case last December.
But he has since sought to overturn his conviction, claiming he was not a “rapist” and insisting he thought he was participating in a consensual sexual activity.
He is the only defendant from that case to appeal. He has been sentenced to nine years in prison, lower than the 12 years initially sought by prosecutors.
Tuesday marked the second day of his appeal, and prosecutors presented evidence to contradict his claims.
Witnesses included Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, who previously received a prison term of 20 years, the maximum sentence, for orchestrating the assaults in the former couple’s home in Mazan.
During trial last year, Dominique Pelicot admitted that, for more than a decade, he drugged his then-wife of 50 years so that he and strangers he recruited online could abuse her. He also filmed the assaults, which included at least 50 men.
In Tuesday’s hearing, he denied ever coercing or misleading Dogan. “I never forced anyone,” he said. “They never needed me.”
He also refuted Dogan’s assertion that his invitation was to participate in a sexual game. “I never said that,” he said.
“I have no interest in speaking ill of anyone, except to tell the truth,” Dominique Pelicot added.
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