An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to ten years.
Appeal Trial
Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.
The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.
“We hope the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”
Background
The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.
Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.
The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.
Evidence Presented
The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.
Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”
The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.
The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.
Defendant's Statements
The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”
Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”
Pelicot's Words
Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”
The victim, 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.”
State's Argument
Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”
Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”
The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are supporting.”
Personal History
The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.
He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.
