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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” 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 the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

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 evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.