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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.