🔗 Share this article

A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.