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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years 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 verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on 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.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

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

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.