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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with 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 the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.