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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.