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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

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 going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings 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 invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half 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 unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.