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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

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

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the first trial.