French Appeal Court Uphighers Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

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

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the original case.