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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the 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 Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

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

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied 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 the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.