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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the original case.