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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her 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 innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.