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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

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 brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.