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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The judge 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 consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the first trial.