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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the first trial.