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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

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

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.