It is the day of the verdict for François and Penelope Fillon.
The Paris Court of Appeal is in fact ruling this Monday afternoon on the fate of the former Prime Minister and his wife, in the case of suspicions of fictitious jobs which had exploded before the presidential election of 2017 .
Justice will therefore rule a second time in this case which had sealed the campaign for the Elysée of the candidate of the right, a time favorite but finally eliminated in the first round.
François Fillon, 68, and Penelope Fillon, 66, who have contested any fictitious employment since the beginning, will not be present at the delivery of the decision at 1:30 p.m., any more than the former deputy of the first to the post of deputy in the Sarthe, Marc Joulaud, 54, indicated their lawyers.
Retired from political life
At first instance, on June 29, 2020, the tenant of Matignon from 2012 to 2017, now retired from political life, had been sentenced to five years' imprisonment, including two years, a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of ineligibility. , for embezzlement of public funds, complicity and concealment of misuse of corporate assets.
His wife had been given a three-year suspended sentence, a 375,000 euro fine and two years of ineligibility, and Marc Joulaud a three-year suspended sentence, a 20,000 euro suspended fine and five years of ineligibility.
The couple immediately appealed and returned to the stand in November, maintaining the same defense in a much less electric atmosphere than at the first trial.
"I was not a fictitious deputy mainly concerned with money", protested François Fillon in an introductory statement, deploring "forty years of (political) commitment erased by an article from a satirical newspaper and a charge investigation”.
"My wife worked alongside me, that's undeniable," he said.
The prosecution calls for more lenient sentences
On appeal, the public prosecutor's office requested lower sentences than those imposed by the court.
Against François Fillon, he demanded five years in prison, including one year under an electronic bracelet, as well as a fine of 375,000 euros.
For his wife, the public prosecutor asked for a two-year suspended prison sentence as well as a 100,000 euro fine and for Marc Joulaud a three-year suspended prison sentence.
Ineligibility sentences of ten, two and three years respectively were also requested.
Justice
At his trial, François Fillon denounces "forty years of political commitment erased by a prosecution investigation"
Justice
Fillon trial: The hearing is over, the deliberation set for May 9, 2022
Justice
Francois Fillon
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Paris
court of appeal
Penelope Fillon
Fillon trial
Ile-de-France