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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted 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 nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

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

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the first trial.