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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

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 “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.