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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.