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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared 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 influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.