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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals 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 residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.