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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs 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 early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.