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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.