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A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.