François and Penelope Fillon will know if their trial resumes

• François and Penelope Fillon were tried in March for "embezzlement of public funds" and "abuse of social assets".
• Penelope Fillon is suspected of having had a fictitious job as a collaborator with him when he was a Member of Parliament.
• During the hearing, the prosecution had asked for heavy sentences and fines against them.
• But, while the decision was to be made on Monday, François Fillon asked that the proceedings be reopened after the statements of the former financial prosecutor on the pressures she suffered in this case.

At the time, they didn't want to "add" anything. It was March 11. On this day, as is customary, François Fillon and his wife, Penelope, had the floor last. But, at the end of the three hectic weeks of their trial before the 32nd chamber of the Paris judicial court, they had simply let the judges withdraw to deliberate. An appointment was made for this Monday. But ultimately rather than revealing their judgment at 1:30 p.m. as planned, the three magistrates could finally announce the reopening of the proceedings.

Because, since March 11, François and Penelope Fillon have found something to "add". The former Prime Minister and his wife have indeed demanded that their trial be resumed in order to "discuss" the manner in which the investigation was carried out at the material time. The fault of Éliane Houlette. Head of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office, now retired, she revealed, on June 10, before a committee of the National Assembly, that she had been pressured by the Attorney General precisely on this file of allegedly fictitious jobs of Penelope Fillon.

There is nothing to prevent the debates from resuming

The statement is serious. Enough for Camp Fillon to replay the little music according to which their champion was the target of a political plot at the very moment when he was the favorite to win the presidential election. By making this outing under oath, Éliane Houlette probably wanted to settle her accounts first with her former superior - "a real crêpe de chignons", according to a fine observer - but she still dumped some problematic information. Particularly on the way judge Serge Tournaire was appointed to investigate the Fillon or on the transmission of a suspicious ten-page report which no one knows today where he actually landed.

Who is Eliane Houlette, the prosecutor who holds the fate of François Fillon in her hands? https://t.co/xevWNhYXkW pic.twitter.com/qPeZLkF1nB

Since then, relatives of the former Prime Minister have been bombarding the chest. They recall that they were taken, at best, for "zozos", at worst, for "conspiracies" when their suspicions were legitimate. "The President of the Republic has just ordered an investigation by the Supreme Judicial Council to shed light on this case," recalls one of them. The magistrates of the 32nd chamber would be well advised to await the results of this investigation before pronouncing their judgment! "

In fact, there is nothing to prevent the deliberations scheduled for Monday from being postponed and the debate on the merits to resume. “The court [the three members of which it is composed] is independent. It is up to him alone to make the decision and announce it, ”confides a judicial source. But he has no doubt already understood that a refusal to reopen the discussion could be seen as confirmation that there was indeed a problem during the investigation…

Penelope, "assistant" or "wife"?

Attentive, François Fillon did not however plan to speak before knowing the judges' decision, according to Antonin Lévy, his lawyer. No doubt he will if they refuse his extension. Ranged from the cars of politics since the presidential failure, he made this trial a question of "honor". Anyway, "the election is lost, my current of thought too ...", he had dropped at the bar during the trial before hammering that his wife had exercised the profession of collaborator by his side and not held a fictitious job.

On this decisive point, doubt is still allowed. The three weeks of the trial did not resolve the question of whether Penelope was really a "parliamentary assistant" as asserted by the defense or that her actions were more "the social role of the wife" of any MP, as the national financial prosecutor thinks. The latter had requested a heavy sentence of five years in prison, two years of which against François Fillon.

#Fillon: [Audience report @ 20Minutes]
"Madam, we are hurting for you ..." https://t.co/Fd7aCvmquB

Follow the decision of the Paris judicial court on our journalist's Twitter account: @vvantighem

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• Penelope Fillon
• National Assembly
• Justice
• Fillon trial
• François Fillon
• The Republicans
• Fictitious job