🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought 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 convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the first trial.