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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired 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

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the original case.