🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The 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 given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

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

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the first trial.