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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty 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 Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.