French Higher Court Raises Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent 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 raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’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,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.