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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.