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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, 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 hope the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence 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 give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed 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 injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.