France's Appeal Tribunal Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

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

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have 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: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the first trial.