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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

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

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.