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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her 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 permission is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.