🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.