Germana Carillo The only man who appealed argued that Gisèle Pélicot's ex-husband had deceived him into believing the woman was consenting and wanted to participate in an erotic game where he would have sex with strangers "while pretending to sleep"
Sentenced to 10 years in prison – one year more than the first-instance verdict – the only man who appealed among the 50 convicted of raping Gisèle Pélicot, the French woman who for years was drugged and sedated by her husband and made available to dozens of strangers to rape her.
Found guilty of sexual violence and rape committed under the influence of chemical substances, like the other 49 defendants, the 44-year-old – who assaulted the victim on the night between June 28 and 29, 2019 – had denied having violent intentions, claiming he had been “manipulated” by the woman’s ex-husband, Dominique Pélicot. Before the Court of Nîmes, Gisele reiterated the accusations against Dogan, asking him to “take responsibility” for his actions.
During the appeal trial, investigators presented a video that contradicts the defendant’s version: the man remained in the house for at least three hours and twenty-four minutes, not half an hour as declared, and the footage shows him abusing an unconscious Gisele. Unlike the first trial, where the verdict was issued by a panel of judges, this time Dogan’s fate was decided by a jury composed of five men and four women.
From 2011 to 2020, Dominique Pelicot gave his wife tranquilizers and sleeping pills without her knowledge, crushing them and adding them to her food and drinks, causing her to lose memory and pass out.
Gisèle Pélicot’s ex-husband, found guilty among other things of aggravated rape, received a twenty-year sentence, the maximum penalty provided by French law. All the defendants were also found guilty by the court, the vast majority of them for aggravated rape (receiving sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years in prison).
