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A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

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

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 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.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis 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 was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.