🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. 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 challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.