France's Appeal Court Uphighers Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” 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 had no desire to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.