Neufchâteau False Electoral Proxies Case Appeals: Francine Bossicart Stands Alone

2023-06-21 15:07:00

Francine Bossicart will be the only one of the four convicted in the so-called Neufchâteau false electoral proxies case in October 2018, not to appeal the judgment delivered by the Mons criminal court on May 22. The former CPAS adviser and running mate for Dimitri Fourny’s Agir Ensemble list waited until Wednesday, the deadline for appealing, before deciding. The deadline for appealing was 30 days after the date of the judgment.

His lawyer, Me Patrick Davreux, declined to comment further.

We will remember that a few hours after learning of the judgment, on May 22, we sensed that this was the direction we were headed for, when her lawyer told us: “From the moment she made a confession, we we were expecting a sanction. I had pleaded a labor sentence and she received a 6-month suspended prison sentence as well as 10 years of ineligibility. This seems reasonable to me from a criminal point of view. On the other hand, we will see what we will do it civilly since we are asking him for a fine of €14,000.”

The director of the home on appeal

On the other hand, Anne Noël, the director of the home Le Clos des Seigneurs will indeed appeal her sentence to a 50-hour work sentence and a fine. “We are going to appeal because my client had not been acquitted”, justified his lawyer Me Preumont.

This is in addition to the appeal of MM. Fourny and Michiels, the other two convicted in this case. Recall that on the day of his sentencing, May 22, Dimitri Fourny decided to appeal immediately.

The former deputy-mayor of Neufchâteau, had received a 12-month suspended sentence, a heavy fine of 16,000 euros and a period of ineligibility of 10 years.

“I cannot accept this. We are clearly in disproportion and contradiction. Another bizarre thing: if this is such an exceptional case, why have you devoted only one hearing to such a case?” declared.

As for the former Castro alderman Daniel Michiels, whose lawyer pleaded for a simple suspension of the pronouncement, he had received a 3-month suspended prison sentence, a fine and 5 years of ineligibility.

He too wished to be retried by the Court of Appeal in order to obtain a total acquittal. He appealed on June 6.

To the fines imposed by the court, it is necessary to add 6,000€ to be paid by each of the condemned to the City of Neufchâteau which had constituted a civil party and had won its case.

It should also be remembered that all the other defendants, namely 19 people, had all been acquitted by the Mons judge.

When before the Mons Court of Appeal?

It remains to be seen when these three people will be retried, who will have to return to Mons no longer for the Hainaut court of first instance, but for the criminal section of the court of appeal. Before the municipal elections of 2024?

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