France's Higher Court Raises Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, 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 displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.