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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told 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.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.