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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict 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, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed 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 declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

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

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.