French Appeal Court Raises Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A man was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region 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 temporarily testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation 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 residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.