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

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.