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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” 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 wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. 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 Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.