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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed 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 invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.