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An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife 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.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied 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 home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the midst of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.