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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals 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 appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.