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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.