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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.