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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.