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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a evaluator that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.