France's Higher Court Uphighers Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father 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 he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.