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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the first trial.