🔗 Share this article

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

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence 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 the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the original case.