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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, 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, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

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

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, 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 repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.