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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities 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 once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the original case.