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A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.