🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero 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 the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.