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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.