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A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer 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 wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.