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A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.