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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said 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 unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the footage 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 the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from 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 father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.