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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.