French Higher Court Raises Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded 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 assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

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

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.