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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially 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 stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, 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 OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking 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 primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard 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 stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.