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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

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

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.