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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.