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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.