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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed 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, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.