🔗 Share this article

An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the original case.