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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

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

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.