🔗 Share this article French Higher Tribunal Raises Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Assailant An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period increased to a decade. Higher Court Case The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes. A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019. The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep. We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured personally and not by proxy from a husband.” Background Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage. Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years. The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”. Evidence Presented The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed. Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.” The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable. The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission. Dogan's Claims The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.” Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.” Survivor's Statement The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? 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: “The shame should shift.” Legal Commentary The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.” Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.” The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.” Personal History The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness. He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.