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A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

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

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your situation.”

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

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.