🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of many 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 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker 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 institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.