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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your case.”

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

Sie told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.