🔗 Share this article

A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

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 permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.