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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.