French Appeal Court Raises Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

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

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant 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 told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.