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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. 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 birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.