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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.