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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 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 assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” 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 permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.