🔗 Share this article France's Higher Tribunal Raises Prison Term for Gisele Pelicot Assailant A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his jail term extended to 10 years. Retrial Proceedings Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes. A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019. The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state. We trust the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.” Context Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage. Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade. The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”. Testimony and Proof Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed. Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.” The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been permissible. The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed. Accused's Testimony The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced 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 The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.” Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.” Legal Commentary The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your case.” Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.” Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.” Biographical Details The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. 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 wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.