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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten 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

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the first trial.