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A man was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

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 aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. 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 a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.