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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, 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.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused 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 court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.