🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, 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 shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.