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A man was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.