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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, 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 hope the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.