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A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced 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 town of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official 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 videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

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

Sie 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: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.