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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. 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 brought him to the home, 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.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.