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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial 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 sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

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

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought 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 told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.