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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father 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 he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.