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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period 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 incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone 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 school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.