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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects 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 rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware 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 privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child 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 way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.