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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread 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.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer 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 legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.