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An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals 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 convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.