🔗 Share this article

A man was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his jail term raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent 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 almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon 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 failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.