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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty 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 community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.