Isabelle Balkany was released from hospital on Saturday, according to a source familiar with the matter cited by AFP. She had been hospitalized since her suicide attempt last February. She is now in “convalescence” at her home in Giverny (Eure).
According to this same source, the former first assistant of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine), aged 74, was hospitalized for “physical and psychological” reasons as well as for a long Covid. She was “still very tired” on Sunday.
For his part, his lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur, questioned by AFP, did not wish to confirm this information, “for three reasons: professional secrecy of a lawyer, medical secrecy and a requirement of dignity”.
Depending on her state of health, Isabelle Balkany should be summoned soon by the courts.
A three-year prison sentence
His placement under an electronic bracelet, in execution of a three-year prison sentence for tax evasion, had been revoked by justice in February, which meant incarceration.
“I just want to sleep, SLEEP”, wrote Isabelle Balkany on Twitter in early February, after swallowing “significant quantities of her usual treatment”.
The same day, the Rouen Court of Appeal had confirmed the decision of the Sentencing Enforcement Court (TAP) of Évreux (Eure) to revoke the placement under electronic bracelet of Isabelle and her husband Patrick Balkany, at the following numerous shortcomings.
“They spent their time playing with fire. At some point, it’s very simple, when you play with fire, you get burned, “said the public prosecutor of Évreux, also denouncing a” total lack of effort to clear their tax debt “.
According to justice, a hundred “incidents” have caused their electronic bracelets to ring since March 2021. The Balkany spouses were under house arrest at the Cossy mill, their residence in Giverny.
A first suicide attempt in 2019
Former vice-president of the Hauts-de-Seine departmental council, Isabelle Balkany had been sentenced to three years in prison without a warrant, the court taking into account her state of health after a first suicide attempt in early May 2019.
The couple’s conviction for tax evasion was confirmed on March 4, 2020 by the Paris Court of Appeal, accompanied by a three-year prison sentence. It was this first part of a vast tax evasion procedure which had resulted in their placement under an electronic bracelet in March 2021.
Last Monday, the Évry prosecutor’s office appealed the parole of Patrick Balkany, imprisoned in Fleury-Mérogis (Essonne) since February. He remains imprisoned until the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal.