🔗 Share this article

An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.