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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared 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 influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood 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 principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.