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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized 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 penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood 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 consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.