🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. 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 home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.