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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.