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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

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

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated 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 authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.