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A man was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said 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 modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.