France's Higher Court Raises Jail Time for Gisele Pelicot Perpetrator

A man was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 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.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your case.”

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 ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the first trial.