French Higher Court Uphighers Sentence for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist

A defendant was convicted on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

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 “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

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

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone 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 institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.