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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the original case.