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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt 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 ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.