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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the original case.