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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.