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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.