🔗 Share this article

A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

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

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.