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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to 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 never wanted to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance 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, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your situation.”

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: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced 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 spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.