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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced 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 Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, 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

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.