🔗 Share this article

A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized 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 penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the course of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.