🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

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

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the first trial.