Patrick Balkany, imprisoned in Fleury-Merogis, and his wife Isabelle, hospitalized since his suicide attempt in February, are being prosecuted by the Nanterre Criminal Court for “use of a document relating to images of a sexual nature and obtained by an attack to the privacy of others’. They will be tried on April 4, 2023.
The Balkany couple are suspected of having broadcast a photomontage in February 2021 with the aim of harming David-Xavier Weiss, their former municipal councilor who has become their opponent and first deputy of the new majority at the town hall of Levallois-Perret, wanting the pressure to resign from office.
During the investigation, the Balkany spouses explained that they found the photos in an envelope in a mailbox and then sent them to several people and in particular to the current mayor of Levallois-Perret, Agnès Pottier-Dumas, for the to inform.
A few days later, their former municipal councilor had filed a complaint for disclosure of a document of a sexual nature.
“They expressed no regrets”
“They expressed no regret, which I expected at least, so I will let the courts choose the most appropriate sentence to prevent such practices from happening again,” David-Xavier Weiss told AFP on Tuesday. .
“These actions are filthy and will have to be punished, once again they are outside the law and do not respect anything”, estimated his lawyer, Me Philippe Gumery, at the end of the fixing hearing.
For Me Robin Binsard, one of Patrick Balkany’s lawyers, there is “judicial harassment against the Balkany”, “the prosecution did not seek the identity of the first broadcaster of this photograph, he did not checked with the municipal video surveillance which had deposited the envelope which contained it ”.
Also, “dozens of people then broadcast this photograph but they are not prosecuted, only the Balkany are”, he regrets.
A shower of criticism on social networks
Since their departure from the town hall, the Balkany spouses have multiplied criticism on social networks and in the press against the new team at the town hall of Levallois-Perret, which they led for more than thirty years.
Patrick Balkany has been imprisoned since the beginning of February in Fleury-Merogis. After having carried out five months of detention for tax evasion, then having been released under electronic bracelet for health reasons, the former mayor LR of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) returned to prison because of numerous breaches of his obligations, according to justice. The placement under electronic bracelet of his wife Isabelle was also revoked.