An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.
Appeal Trial
The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.
The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.
“We hope the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”
Context
The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.
Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.
The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Courtroom Details
The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”
The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.
The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.
Dogan's Claims
The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”
Survivor's Statement
Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”
Legal Commentary
The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the course of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”
Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are supporting.”
Biographical Details
Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.
He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, 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 repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.
