🔗 Share this article

A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. 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 invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

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

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.