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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. 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 person, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.