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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period 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 contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. 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 recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 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.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.