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A man was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The 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.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.