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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case 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 rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture 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 culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer 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 institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the first trial.