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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.