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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.