French Appeal Tribunal Increases Jail Time for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” 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 house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.