🔗 Share this article

A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

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

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, 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.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the original case.