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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the first trial.