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A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.