French Appeal Tribunal Raises Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred 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 “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated 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 Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.