🔗 Share this article

A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated 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 principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.