French Appeal Tribunal Uphighers Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

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 inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread 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 told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the original case.