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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.