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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing 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 sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity 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 responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the original case.