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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the first trial.