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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

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

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

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

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.