🔗 Share this article

A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning 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 danger of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality 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 unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that each year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the first trial.