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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction 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, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment 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 responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.