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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

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

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 building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.