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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial 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 Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

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

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.