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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the first trial.