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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

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

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied 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 tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son 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 repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the first trial.