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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a new trial 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 the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the first trial.