🔗 Share this article

A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent 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 wed and had a son 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 frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.