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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told 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 influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned 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 survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.