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A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

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

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.