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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

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

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting 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 high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.