French Higher Court Increases Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the midst of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.