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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused 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 rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions 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 prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the first trial.