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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek 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 societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, 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

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.