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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.