French Appeal Tribunal Raises Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Rapist

A man has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.