🔗 Share this article

A man was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.