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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

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

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.