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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? 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: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

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

Sie told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.