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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” 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 attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the first trial.