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A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the first trial.