France's Appeal Court Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.