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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.