French Appeal Court Raises Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Assailant

A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

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

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the original case.