🔗 Share this article

A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware 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: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

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

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.