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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert 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 panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone 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 wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the first trial.