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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated 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 manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.