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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious 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 assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’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 rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.