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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the original case.