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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. 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,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished 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 responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread 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: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone 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 educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.