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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware 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 courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the course of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.