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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade 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 initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

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

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.