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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction 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 raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.