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

A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, 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 repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the original case.