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A man was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, 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 recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

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 declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the original case.