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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence 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 society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that each year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the first trial.