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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years 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 challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood 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 consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need 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 individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the original case.