Georges Tron, definitively sentenced for rape, has not been in prison since March 29, said his lawyer, Mr.and Bertrand Burman, at Agence France-Presse, Wednesday April 6. The former elected Les Républicains (LR) had been imprisoned in the Paris prison of Health since the verdict of his appeal trial for rape and sexual assault, in February 2021.
Thanks to a sentence adjustment, the former mayor of Draveil (Essonne) came out on March 29 under an electronic bracelet and is now free to move during the day, said the lawyer, confirming information from the newspaper The Parisian.
“His release is by right, it is justice that speaks, but we are worried about the place he will take in the majority, he has revenge to take”declared François Damerval, elected (EELV) of opposition to Draveil, evoking the “great influence” of Georges Tron, who led the city from 1995 to May 2021. Today, Mr. Tron is no longer a municipal or community councilor.
Instruction for “witness tampering” still in progress
At the end of a procedure with twists and turns, Georges Tron and his ex-assistant for culture in Draveil, Brigitte Gruel, were found guilty of having imposed touching and digital penetrations in November 2009 and January 2010 to a municipal employee, Virginia Ettel, under cover of plantar reflexology sessions.
Definitively sentenced to a five-year prison sentence, two of which were suspended after the rejection of his appeal in cassation, the former Secretary of State had said in December his intention to seize the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR ). “I reaffirm here today (…) that I am innocent of the charges brought against me”he said in a press release from the town hall of Draveil, which he led from 1995 to May 2021.
In its judgment, the Court of Cassation considered that the Assize Court had indeed “characterized” the different elements “constituting the offenses of which it found the accused guilty”which Mr. Tron disputed.
In addition, an instruction “for witness tampering” is still in progress, confirmed on Wednesday, the Evry prosecution. In this part, Georges Tron is suspected of having put pressure on Virginie Ettel when she denounced the facts of rape. A dismissal was pronounced in 2018, but the investigating chamber had requested new acts of investigation, relaunching the investigations.