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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the first trial.