An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to 10 years.
Retrial Proceedings
Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.
We expect the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”
Case History
The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.
The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.
Testimony and Proof
The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.
The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”
The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.
The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.
Defendant's Statements
Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”
Victim's Response
The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
Legal Commentary
Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”
Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are upholding.”
Biographical Details
Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.
He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.
