Fillon affair: former prime minister files new appeal
A new twist in a case that exploded in 2017. Former Prime Minister François Fillon has filed a second appeal in cassation in the case of his wife Penelope Fillon's fictitious employment, a judicial source has indicated, confirming a report by BFMTV.
The 71-year-old former Prime Minister has appealed the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal on June 17, which sentenced him, after a third trial, to four years in prison, suspended , a €375,000 fine and five years of ineligibility.
This decision allowed François Fillon to escape the electronic tag. Indeed, he had previously been sentenced to a harsher sentence on May 9, 2022: other magistrates at the same appeals court had then imposed a four-year prison sentence, including one year in prison, with the same fine, but ten years of ineligibility.
The Court of Cassation then, in 2024, partially overturned this decision and ordered a new trial for François Fillon, but only on the amount of his sentence – his guilt, notably for embezzlement of public funds, being final.
This second appeal will therefore lead to a new examination of "Penelopegate" by the high court in the coming months.
Penelope Fillon, for her part, was only affected by this third trial for a portion of the damages to which the couple was sentenced – her two-year suspended prison sentence and €375,000 fine became final in 2024. The Franco-Welsh woman has filed an appeal solely on the issue of damages, the judicial source said.
La Croıx
