Patrick and Isabelle Balkany won their case: the spouses were released on Tuesday by the Nanterre criminal court, where they had been tried two months ago for the dissemination of photomontages of a sexual nature by the first deputy of the town hall of Levallois- Perret.
The Balkany were accused of having broadcast to relatives pornographic images of David-Xavier Weiss, the current first deputy mayor of Levallois, a former close friend of the couple, who became a political adversary.
No “sufficiently demonstrated” evidence
However, as the public prosecutor admitted during the hearing, the experts could not prove with certainty that these images were indeed a montage. “The proof that there was a photomontage is not sufficiently demonstrated”, explained the president of the 14th chamber of the court to justify the release.
“This decision restores the honor of our customers who have been unjustly smeared,” reacted to the press Me Robin Binsard, who represents Mr. and Mrs. Balkany with Me Romain Dieudonné. “It is a disavowal for the public prosecutor who prosecuted the Balkany spouses in this case against all common sense, when everything showed that no offense could be attributed to them”, he added.
During the hearing in April, the prosecution had requested a fine of 10,000 euros against the former mayor of Levallois (between 1983 and 1995 then 2001-2020) and against his wife, who was also his first assistant.
Mr. Weiss had withdrawn his complaint, initially filed for disclosure of a document of a sexual nature and his constitution as a civil party, before the hearing. The confusion even extended to the procedure because, if the prosecution had decided to refer the spouses to court for the publication of a photomontage, the summons received by Mr. Balkany mentioned another qualification: “invasion of privacy of others”.
Struggling to supervise their successors
Since their departure from the town hall of Levallois in 2020, the Balkany have multiplied the criticisms – sometimes bitter – on social networks against the new municipal team. Isabelle Balkany, 75, is to be tried in July 2024 for defamatory remarks made on Facebook against mayor Agnès Pottier-Dumas.
Sentenced for laundering tax evasion, the Balkany couple was found guilty of having concealed between 2007 and 2014 some 13 million euros in tax assets. Patrick Balkany spent several months in detention in connection with this case.