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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 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.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.