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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence 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 violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.