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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, 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 five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” 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 informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality 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 failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.