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A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, 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 drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.