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An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told 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 told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics 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 builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.