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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread 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 told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.