After five weeks of waiting, Patrick Balkany will know this Thursday if he will return home.
Or not.
His last request for parole was examined by the Paris Court of Appeal on June 30.
But the judges had not made their decision on the spot and had put it under advisement on August 4.
They can grant him parole, a reduced sentence with placement under an electronic bracelet, or decide to let him serve the end of his sentence for tax evasion behind bars.
In which case, he would remain in prison until next spring.
During the hearing on June 30, where he appeared by videoconference from his Fleury-Mérogis cell, the former mayor of Levallois insisted in particular on his state of health and on his wish to join his wife, Isabelle Balkany, weakened after a suicide attempt and a lung operation.
His lawyers had pleaded again the poor state of health of their client, the fact that he presents no danger to society and that it was not useful in their eyes to keep him behind bars.
This is essentially what they had already pleaded in May, when Patrick Balkany, imprisoned since February, had asked for his release on parole.
Their arguments had carried since the court of application of the sentences had granted his release on parole to the former elected official.
But the next day, the prosecution had appealed.
Consequence: Patrick Balkany remained in prison until the hearing on June 30.
For the prosecution, it was "premature" to return his freedom to the former elected.
Sentenced for tax evasion
The ex-mayor of Levallois was imprisoned on February 7, 2022, after the Rouen Court of Appeal revoked his placement under an electronic bracelet.
Since March 2021, in fact, he and his wife had been wearing an ankle bracelet to serve their three-year prison sentence for home tax evasion.
But a series of incidents, including non-compliance with exit times, convinced the courts to revoke the house arrest.
This implied the incarceration of the Balkany spouses.
The day this decision was made, February 3, Isabelle Balkany attempted suicide.
Patrick Balkany had to report to the gendarmerie at his home a few days later to be taken to the house in Fleury-Mérogis (Essonne), where he has been detained for six months.
This stay behind bars is not the first.
When the Paris Criminal Court rendered its judgment condemning the Balkany spouses for tax evasion, in September 2019, Patrick Balkany was immediately imprisoned.
