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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

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

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. 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 allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out 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 homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.