A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to ten years.
Retrial Proceedings
The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced 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 Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.
The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.
“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”
Background
Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.
Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.
The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Evidence Presented
Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.
The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”
The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.
The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.
Accused's Testimony
The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”
Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”
Pelicot's Words
Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”
The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”
Prosecutor's Remarks
Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”
The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”
Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”
Personal History
Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.
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 court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.
