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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom 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 engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

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

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.