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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the original case.