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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

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

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the original case.