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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 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 panel of four women and five men, joined 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 married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the midst of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.