🔗 Share this article

An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his jail term extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero 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 the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.