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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.