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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades 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 period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses 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 the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” 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 knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he sought paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.