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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will declare 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. “Agreement is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate 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 the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.