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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.