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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed 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 assault 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 not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the first trial.