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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware 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 without her consent.”

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

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” 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 stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 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.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year 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 initial proceedings.