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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting 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.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

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 informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.