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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

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

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, 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 frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.