🔗 Share this article

A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told 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 influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that annually he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.