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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.