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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

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

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.