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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework 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 evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.