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A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. 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 joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.