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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted 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 Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

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

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, 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 frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.