Constitutional Council Decision Raises Possibility of New Trials for François Fillon and Nicolas Sarkozy

Are François Fillon and Nicolas Sarkozy heading towards new trials? A decision by the Constitutional Council could well allow this, reveals franceinfo. The judicial institution decided this Thursday to censor article 385 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The latter stipulates that once an investigation is completed, it is no longer possible to raise a procedural defect.

However, the Sages considered that this article of law was contrary to the Constitution, in particular to the “rights of defense” and at “right to appeal”. The Council was seized by François Fillon’s defense by means of a priority question of constitutionality (QPC), a legal instrument created in 2008 under the five-year term of Nicolas Sarkozy. The latter joined his former Prime Minister in filing the QPC.

François Fillon’s lawyer says it “victim of injustice”that of Nicolas Sarkozy salutes “a great victory”

Indeed, the two men claim to have become aware of procedural defects after the end of the instructions concerning them. In the case of the Fillon affair, these are the declarations of the former boss of the national financial prosecutor’s office (PNF), Éliane Houlette, referring to “pressures” of his hierarchy. For Nicolas Sarkozy, the procedural defect concerns a parallel investigation by the PNF in the so-called affair of “listens”. This sought to flush out a mole within the prosecution, who would have informed the former president that he and his lawyer were being listened to.

The decision of the Sages therefore concerns a procedural point, purely technical, and in no way exonerates François Fillon and Nicolas Sarkozy on the merits of their affairs. But for François-Henri Briard, François Fillon’s lawyer, “the former Prime Minister and candidate for the presidency of the Republic was the victim of an injustice contrary to the Constitution of the Fifth Republic”. “For Nicolas Sarkozy, it is a great victory, a snub to the court of appeal which applied a law which is unconstitutional”declared Patrice Spinosi, lawyer for the former Minister of the Interior.

In May 2022, François Fillon was sentenced on appeal to four years in prison, including one year, a fine of 375,000 euros and ten years of ineligibility for fictitious jobs of his wife, Pénélope Fillon. In May 2023, Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to three years in prison, including one year, for corruption and influence peddling. He was accused of having promised a prestigious position to a magistrate, in order to obtain information on a legal case concerning him.