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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

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

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify 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 want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.