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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the original case.