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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent 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.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.