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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.