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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.