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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood 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 without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived 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 failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor 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: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.