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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping 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 Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the process of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence 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 addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.