A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to ten years.
Retrial Proceedings
Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.
A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.
The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.
“We hope the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”
Context
The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.
Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.
The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.
Courtroom Details
The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.
The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious 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 engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.
The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.
Accused's Testimony
Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”
Survivor's Statement
The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”
The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”
Legal Commentary
The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your case.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”
The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”
Defendant's Background
Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.
He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the original case.
