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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher 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 the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused 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 unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.