🔗 Share this article

A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative 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 then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.