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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.