🔗 Share this article French Higher Court Increases Sentence for Gisele Pelicot Rapist An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade. Retrial Proceedings The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal. A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019. The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep. We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.” Background The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse 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 nearly ten years of their union. Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade. The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”. Courtroom Details The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated. Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.” The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible. The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed. Defendant's Statements The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.” Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.” Pelicot's Words The survivor, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.” The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.” Legal Commentary Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your case.” Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.” The prosecutor told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.” Defendant's Background The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused. He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the initial proceedings.