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A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.