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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, 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 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded 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 illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the first trial.