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

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.