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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” 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 carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise 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: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, 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 sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.