🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.