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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan 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 death by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.