French Higher Tribunal Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the process of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.