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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled 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 transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.