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A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.