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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the original case.