The Court of Cassation definitively confirmed on Wednesday April 24 the guilt of François Fillon in the case of the fictitious jobs of his wife Pénélope Fillon. The high court, however, ordered a new trial where the sentences and damages will be pronounced against him. The sentences of the two other defendants, including his wife Pénélope Fillon, were confirmed.
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The three defendants had filed appeals against the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal. The man who was the head of government from 2007 to 2012, under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced on appeal on May 9, 2022 to four years of imprisonment, including one year, a fine of 375,000 euros and 10 years of imprisonment. ineligibility. According to the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the prison sentence could be served at home with an electronic bracelet.
A new hearing will therefore be held in the coming months before the Paris Court of Appeal to re-examine the sanctions imposed on François Fillon, 70 years.
The Court of Cassation is the highest court in the French judicial order and controls compliance with the rules of law and not the bottom of the files.
She explained that a judge can only impose a prison sentence without suspension if the seriousness of the offense and the personality of its perpetrator make any other sanction inadequate. However, in his motivations, the judge did not demonstrate how another sentence would have been inadequate for François Fillon.
She also questioned the amount of damages that the Fillon couple had to pay to the National Assembly. She thus requests that the Court of Appeal rule again on the amount of 126,167 euros awarded to the National Assembly in damages for Penelope Fillon’s parliamentary assistant contract with her husband in 2012-2013.
The conviction of Penelope Fillon (two years suspended prison sentence and 375,000 euros fine) and that of François Fillon’s deputy in the National Assembly, Marc Joulaud, (three years suspended prison sentence) are confirmed by the Court of Cassation. The defendants, who have always maintained their innocence, were also ordered to pay 800,000 euros in damages to the National Assembly.
The “Penelope-gate” affair broke out with the revelations of Le Canard chainé in January 2017, when François Fillon was a candidate for the right and the center in the presidential election.
At first instance, he was sentenced on June 29, 2020 to five years in prison, including two years, with the same fine and ineligibility.
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