🔗 Share this article France's Appeal Tribunal Uphighers Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years. Appeal Trial The defendant, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes. A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019. The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state. We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.” Context The husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage. Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years. The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”. Evidence Presented The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated. Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.” The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable. The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed. Defendant's Statements The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.” Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.” Victim's Response Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.” The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.” Legal Commentary The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your situation.” The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread 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 addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.” Defendant's Background The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets. He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.