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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the first trial.