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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.