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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.