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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.