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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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 higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.