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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

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

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to 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 harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.