🔗 Share this article France's Higher Court Uphighers Jail Time for Gisèle Pelicot Rapist A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to a decade. Retrial Proceedings The defendant, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal. A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019. The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state. We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.” Background The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage. Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade. The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”. Testimony and Proof The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard. Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.” The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible. The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed. Accused's Testimony Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.” Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.” Pelicot's Words Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.” The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.” State's Argument Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your case.” The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.” Sie told Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.” Personal History The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused. He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.