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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.