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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.