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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher 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 home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood 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 primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.