🔗 Share this article

A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed 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 am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

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, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.