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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.