🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting 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 society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses 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 child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.