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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

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

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

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from 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 violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.