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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.