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A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the process of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

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

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.