French Appeal Court Increases Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Perpetrator

An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, 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, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the original case.