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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the footage 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 am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.