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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, 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 sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.