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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated 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 broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced 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 final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child 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 repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.