French Higher Tribunal Increases Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Perpetrator

A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. 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 son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.