France's Appeal Court Uphighers Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the process of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.