🔗 Share this article

A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim 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 husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters present to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking 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 main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.