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A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, 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 manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police 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 laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.