French Higher Court Raises Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the original case.