🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the first trial.