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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood 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 proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. 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 wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.