France's Higher Tribunal Increases Jail Time for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed 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, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

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 building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.