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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent 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: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.