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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France 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, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.