A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence extended to 10 years.
Appeal Trial
Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.
A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.
“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”
Context
The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.
Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.
The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.
Evidence Presented
The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.
The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”
The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.
The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.
Defendant's Statements
The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”
Survivor's Statement
The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”
The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
Legal Commentary
The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your situation.”
The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are upholding.”
Personal History
Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs 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 being unhoused.
He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.
