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

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that annually he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the first trial.