French Appeal Court Increases Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Perpetrator

An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.