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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades 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 the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

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

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.