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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.