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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with 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 Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.