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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.