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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence 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 Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife 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 each year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.