French Court Reiterates One-year Sentence for Ex-PM Fillon

On Monday, a French court sustained the prison sentence imposed on François Fillon, former conservative prime minister. A lower court previously dictated the conviction based on the public scandal that derailed his 2017 run for president when he was accused of embezzling public funds.

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In 2017, information emerged about the conservative Fillon's presidential campaign, paving the way for the now-president Emmanuel Macron, who was re-elected to a second term last month. On Monday, the former PM's sentence was reduced to four years, with three years suspended.

Fillon was forbidden from taking public office for at least ten years; according to his lawyers Monday's statements, Fillon will appeal to France's highest court. It is considered that under  French sentencing guidelines, the former PM won't spend any time in prison.

For the stealing charge, his wife, Penelope Fillon, was given a suspended two-year prison sentence, while the previous sentence was from three years suspended, also kept the fines of €375,000 for each of them. Both were demanding to pay €800,000 to the lower house National Assembly. Penelope was reimbursed as Fillon's assistant and was a civil plaintiff in the case.

Fictitious jobs: François Fillon received four years in prison, one year of which is closed on appeal.
His wife was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.

In November, during the hearing of the appeals, the prosecutors have told about the clear evidence of Fillon's wife Penelope having been employed in an "intangible" role as a parliamentary assistant between 1998 and 2013 by Fillon and his stand-in as MP for the Sarthe department, Marc Joulaud.

Fillon also employed his wife as a "literary consultant" at the Revue des Deux Mondes magazine owned by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, which the prosecution has described as an "indulgence" for his friend Fillon.