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A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

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

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the original case.