Despite his drawn features and lean figure, Mr. Balkany, 74, proved at the hearing that he had lost none of his baggage and his cheerfulness.

"If I had wanted to harm him, I had a swarm of activists who were able to cover in one night all the mailboxes of the city, I did not do it," explained to the bar the one who was mayor of Levallois for thirty years (between 1983 and 1995 and 2001-2020).

The Balkany are accused of having distributed to relatives pornographic images of David-Xavier Weiss, the current first deputy mayor of Levallois, former close to the couple, turned political opponent.

However, as the prosecution acknowledged during the hearing, the experts cannot prove with certainty that these images are indeed a montage.

The complainant's position on the matter was unclear during his various hearings. Mr. Weiss, who withdrew his complaint initially filed for disclosure of a sexual document and his civil action, was absent from the hearing.

The confusion even extended to the proceedings because, although the public prosecutor decided to refer the spouses to court for the publication of a photomontage, the summons received by Mr Balkany mentioned another qualification: "invasion of the privacy of others".

"Friends at the DGSI"

For the defendant in any case, the question is settled: these are real photos.

"I have friends at the DGSI (Directorate General of Internal Security, editor's note), which is in Levallois, I did not hesitate to ask them if it was a photomontage. They told me, under the seal of secrecy, that they had not been retouched, "assured the court in his hoarse voice the defendant, willingly showman in front of the press.

These photos, which the spouses received printed in a mailbox and on their phone, Mr. Balkany assured to have transferred them to only five people, including the current mayor of Levallois, Agnès Pottier-Dumas, to "warn" her.

"If it had happened to me when I was mayor, I would have asked him (Weiss) to resign. When you want to run for an election there are things not to do, "said the former baron of Haus-de-Seine.

The deliberations will be delivered on June 6.

Since their departure from the town hall of Levallois in 2020, the Balkany have multiplied criticism - sometimes bitter - on social networks against the new municipal team.

Isabelle Balkany, 75, is due to be tried in July 2024 for defamatory remarks made on Facebook against Agnès Pottier-Dumas.

Former elected representatives of Levallois-Perret Patrick and Isabelle Balkany during a meeting of their party, The Republicans, for the regional elections, December 9, 2015 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Hauts-de-Seine © Miguel MEDINA / AFP / Archives

On Tuesday, she was absent from the hearing. "She was operated on for lung cancer a month ago and she is now being treated for pancreatic cancer at the Institut Curie," her husband said.

Balkany's conditional release as part of his tax fraud conviction - which earned him two stints in prison - will end on April 21, when he will be completely free, he said. Isabelle Balkany has never been incarcerated.

At the request of the court, he detailed their income: the spouses earn a cumulative pension of about 12,000 euros per month. "On this, I have tax levies that are important," he hastened to add.

Convicted of laundering tax fraud, the couple was found guilty of hiding between 2007 and 2014 some 13 million euros of assets from the tax authorities.

© 2023 AFP