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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent 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 parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.