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An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.