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An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.