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An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.