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A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the first trial.