French Appeal Court Increases Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his incarceration period extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 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

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for trafficking 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 primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.