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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

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

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” 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,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.