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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

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

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, 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 frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.