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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men 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 culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. 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 invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

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

Biographical Details

The accused 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 building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the original case.