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A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware 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 consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.