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A man was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, joined 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 married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 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.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.