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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.