🔗 Share this article

A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

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.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.