France's Appeal Tribunal Raises Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with 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 court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated 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 “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the original case.