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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan 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 caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the original case.