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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.