🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the first trial.