From “incidents” and “a little casually”, according to their lawyer. The placement under an electronic bracelet of the Balkany couple in order to serve a conviction for tax evasion was revoked in December but the couple appealed, announced Monday January 3 to AFP the prosecutor of Evreux (Eure), confirming information from Mediapart. The magistrate, Dominique Puechmaille, added: “They appealed”, without specifying when this appeal will be considered.
According to Médiapart, the placement under electronic bracelet of Isabelle and Patrick Balkany was revoked on December 17, during a hearing of the court of application of sentences of Evreux, following a hundred incidents. The Balkany couple are attached to this jurisdiction because of their residence in their property in Giverny (Eure), about forty kilometers from Evreux.
Contacted by the investigative media, Isabelle Balkany’s lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, affirms “that the prosecution considered that the appeal [interjeté le 23 décembre – ndlr] was suspenseful “. “This decision is a wake-up call”, he believes. “There have been about a hundred ringing incidents, and a little casually … They are not allowed to leave the house, but when the dog comes out they run after, when the postman passes by, they go to the portal “. “At the time of the hearing, the device was finally settled so that there were no more incidents”, added the lawyer.
The couple were sentenced on appeal in March 2020 to three years in prison for tax evasion. Following this conviction on appeal, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany, aged 73 and 74 respectively, were removed from their elected mandates. They were then mayor LR and first deputy of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine). In application of these penalties, they had been placed in early 2021 under an electronic bracelet in their property at the Cossy mill, in Giverny, with exit times. Incarcerated at the end of 2019 at the Health prison in this case, Patrick Balkany was released five months later for health reasons. If this revocation was confirmed, the couple could be taken into custody.