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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with 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 evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

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

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the original case.