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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-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 soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced 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 wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.