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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing 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 the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture 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 told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the original case.