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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father 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 Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the original case.