🔗 Share this article French Appeal Court Uphighers Prison Term for Gisèle Pelicot Assailant A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years. Retrial Proceedings Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal. A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019. The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state. We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.” Background The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union. Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade. The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”. Evidence Presented The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated. Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.” The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes 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 room, his actions had been permissible. The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission. Dogan's Claims Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.” Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.” Pelicot's Words The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.” Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.” Prosecutor's Remarks The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.” The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.” Sie told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.” Personal History Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused. He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.