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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.