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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable 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 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 blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.