France's Appeal Tribunal Increases Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant

A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

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

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your case.”

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

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.