"Pressures" in the Fillon case: the defense requests the "reopening" of the trial - France 24

Paris (AFP)

New twist a few days before the Fillon judgment: the defense of the former Prime Minister asked the court on Tuesday to reopen the proceedings to shed light on the "pressures" that the national financial prosecutor would have suffered at the time of the investigation .

This announcement by the lawyers of François Fillon, his wife Penelope and his former substitute in Sarthe, Marc Joulaud, poses a major uncertainty about the rendering of the judgment, scheduled for Monday at 1:30 p.m., in this case concerning suspected employment fictitious of Mrs. Fillon.

"We have just seized today the 32nd chamber of the Paris Criminal Court of a request to reopen the proceedings so that recent events can be discussed between all parties," said in a statement sent to AFP Mes Antonin Lévy , Pierre Cornut-Gentille and Jean Veil, who for more than three years have been denouncing a "mad investigation" and "carried out".

The court will respond to their request Monday, according to a judicial source.

This is the last shock caused by the statements of Eliane Houlette, head of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) at the time of the Fillon affair, which sparked political outcry and forced the Head of State to intervene.

On June 10, before the parliamentary commission of inquiry on the independence of the judiciary, Ms. Houlette, now retired, was moved by the "very close control" that the Public Prosecutor's Office, its direct supervisory authority, allegedly exercised, in the conduct of investigations launched in the middle of the 2017 presidential campaign after an article in the Canard enchaîné.

Ms. Houlette referred in particular to "requests for rapid transmission" of the investigative acts or the hearings and had revealed that she had been summoned by the public prosecutor's office, which argued that the investigation should be entrusted to an investigating judge.

The PNF had finally acceded to this request by invoking a risk of prescription, according to Mrs. Houlette.

Welcomed at first by the defense, this opening of judicial information had turned against Mr. Fillon: he had been quickly indicted after having affirmed that such a scenario would push him to throw in the towel.

- "New day" -

Trying to put out the fire, Ms. Houlette said on Friday that the "pressures" "were purely procedural." "Mr. Fillon was not charged at the request or under pressure from the executive," she insisted.

On the right but also at LFI or at the RN, his first statements, however, triggered an avalanche of accusations of instrumentalization of justice in this investigation, which had poisoned the campaign of François Fillon, finally eliminated in the first round.

Friday evening, Emmanuel Macron had in turn intervened, announcing to seize the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) to verify that the PNF conducted its investigation "without pressure" from the executive.

The public prosecutor's office may request information from the public prosecutor's office and forward it to the directorate of criminal affairs and pardons, who may forward it to the office of the Minister of Justice. On the other hand, the law prohibits the Keeper of the Seals from giving instructions in individual files.

The Attorney General of Paris, Catherine Champrenault, also said "regret that what is the regular functioning of the prosecution is assimilated to pressure".

But Ms. Houlette's statements bring water to the defense mill.

"The questions raised by the hearing of the former prosecutor of the Financial Republic (...) as well as the referral to the Superior Council of the Magistrature shed new light on the dysfunctions that we denounced from the start of the procedure "say the lawyers.

"From the beginning, we wonder about the origin and the reasons of the leaks" in the press at the time, "because they were leaks with charge, and we wonder about why such a quick investigation and why investigations to charge, "insisted Me Lévy on BFMTV.

During the debates in March, the PNF demanded five years in prison, two of which closed, and a 375,000 euro fine against François Fillon, three years suspended and 375,000 euros fine against his wife and two years suspended and 20,000 euros fine against Mr. Joulaud.

© 2020 AFP