🔗 Share this article French Appeal Tribunal Uphighers Jail Time for Gisele Pelicot Assailant A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade. Higher Court Case Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes. A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019. The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state. We trust the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.” Context The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage. Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years. The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”. Courtroom Details The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated. The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.” The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable. The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed. Accused's Testimony Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.” Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.” Survivor's Statement The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.” Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.” State's Argument The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.” The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.” Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.” Biographical Details The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused. He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.