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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time 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 convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the process of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.