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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he sought paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the first trial.