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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance 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 the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the original case.