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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

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

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told 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 proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your case.”

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

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.