France's Appeal Court Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.