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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

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

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.