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A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot 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 affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.