🔗 Share this article

An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated 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 focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.