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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.