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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.