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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” 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 central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected 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 invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.