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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected 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 allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.