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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.