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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 has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the first trial.