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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence 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 sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the original case.