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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault 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 innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions 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 choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard 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 stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.