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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” 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 wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked 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 departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the midst of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

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

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the original case.