French Appeal Court Uphighers Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

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 telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused 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 trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the process of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.