Fillon trial: defense pleads for release and denounces "a mad investigation"

Text by: Laura Martel

On the last day of the trial for suspicions of fictitious employment of Penelope Fillon, the floor was for the defense. The six lawyers for the Fillon couple and Marc Joulaud, the former substitute for François Fillon, all pleaded for release.

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With our special correspondent at the Paris court, Laura Martel

The afternoon was mainly dedicated to the pleading of François Fillon's lawyer, 2.5 hours of pleading during which Master Antonin Lévy was just as pugnacious in defending the former Prime Minister that the prosecution had been fierce at overwhelm him the day before in his indictment, demanding five years in prison, two of which closes.

For an hour, Antonin Lévy, very enthusiastic, first attacked the instruction. For him, the order for the referral of judges is nothing more than a " novel, a dependent fire ". As for the investigation, " it is a mad investigation ", he insists, denouncing the conditions of the searches until the supposedly biased choice of the witnesses.

Talking about the work of Penelope Fillon, the lawyer quips: " Since everything is fictitious, I should be brief!" "; he launches before going into great detail about the elements which, according to him, show that she collaborated in speeches, handled the mail and ensured a work of representation. " The agricultural shows or the Christmas of the Sarthe elders may seem derisory on the parquet floor, but these events deserve as much attention as a speech at the perch, " he asserts, before adding: " It was not therefore not a fictitious job, which closes the debate ”.

" Knowing whether Ms. Fillon has worked enough in quantity as in quality" does not concern the court, he argues, in the name of the separation of powers which would prevent him from interfering in the tasks entrusted to the parliamentary assistant . He got carried away: “ the prosecution is talking about small tasks relating to the social role of the wife. It is not even the twentieth, but the nineteenth century, a completely outdated vision by which we try to sweep away the tasks carried out by Penelope Fillon ”.

Finally, he concluded: " I have often heard that you could only condemn, because otherwise it would mean that the election would have been confiscated from the French. But I am convinced that you will judge in law and, therefore, release François Fillon ”.

The trial verdict is expected on June 29.

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