France's Higher Court Raises Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 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.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child 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 regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.