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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

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

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.