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A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.