François Fillion was sentenced to one year in prison.

The Paris Court of Appeal ruled on Monday on the fate of the former Prime Minister and his wife, in the case of suspicions of fictitious jobs which had exploded before the 2017 presidential election.

Justice therefore ruled a second time in this case which had plagued the campaign for the Elysee Palace 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 from the start, were not present when the decision was announced.

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.

Justice

Fillon trial: The Court of Appeal renders its decision this Monday in the case of suspicion of fictitious jobs

Justice

Fillon trial: The hearing is over, the deliberation set for May 9, 2022

  • Francois Fillon

  • Penelope Fillon

  • Ile-de-France

  • court of appeal