France's Higher Tribunal Increases Jail Time for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed 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 frequent intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the first trial.