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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. 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 deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the first trial.