A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his incarceration period raised to ten years.
Appeal Trial
The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.
“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”
Context
The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.
Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.
The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.
Evidence Presented
The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”
The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.
The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.
Accused's Testimony
The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”
Pelicot's Words
The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
Legal Commentary
Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”
Biographical Details
The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.
He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.
