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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half 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 consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the original case.