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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals 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 union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape 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 provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say 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 justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

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

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, 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 repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the original case.