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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his jail term extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’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 ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.