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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent 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 told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.