François Fillon, sentenced on appeal to four years in prison, of which one year is suspended, in the case of suspicions of fictitious jobs on Monday, will appeal to the Court of Cassation, according to his lawyer Me Antonin Lévy on franceinfo.
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François Fillon’s lawyer, Maître Antonin Lévy, confirms Monday, May 9 on franceinfo the appeal in cassation of his client. The former Prime Minister was sentenced at midday by the Court of Appeal to four years in prison, including one year, in the case of suspicions of fictitious jobs of his wife Penelope Fillon. This appeal “suspends the criminal decisions until the outcome of this appeal in cassation”, says Me Lévy.
On franceinfo, François Fillon’s lawyer underlines the progress of the file in favor of his client. “Since the start of this investigation in 2017, there has been a reduction at each stage of the faults alleged against François Fillon”, he raises. “We were first on a fictitious job since 1981, which is finally judged for a fictitious job from 1998, explains the lawyer, Today, following the judgment of the Court of Appeal, we are told that there are six years of fictitious employment for which we are released and seven years for which we are finally condemned. “We are indeed hopeful, he continues, by pushing the reasoning a little further, that we arrive at what is reality: a use that is demonstrated”.
The line of defense has not changed. “Today, coming to tell us that his work from 1992 to 2002 does not constitute a fictitious job but that for the rest it is, we do not understand”, underlines Me Antonin Lévy. “From the beginning, she did the same with her husband”argues the lawyer. “It takes a lot of force for a court of appeal to come and say to a court: since 2017, you have been wrong, he adds. There, she did it over six years.” “It’s complicated to do it on the whole, to say: you have taken such serious decisions that French political life could have been affected. This is the kind of behavior that we can hope to find in the Court of cassation.”
François Fillon’s lawyer also confirms the appeal in cassation of Penelope Fillon and Marc Joulaud, sentenced respectively to two and three years in prison suspended.