French Appeal Court Increases Jail Time for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.