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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

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

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.