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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape 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 culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. 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. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.