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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused 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 testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.