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An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan 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 evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.