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A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone 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 spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.