🔗 Share this article

A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, 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 reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent 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.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.