French Appeal Tribunal Uphighers Jail Time for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. 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 allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the course of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

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

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.