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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the process of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced 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 educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.