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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.