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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told 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 central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in 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 violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.