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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril 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

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.