🔗 Share this article

A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, 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 acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.