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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

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: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.