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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan 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 never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

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

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.