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A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.