As the long trial of the FN's parliamentary assistants draws to a close, the floor was given, this Monday, November 25, 2024, to Julien Odoul's lawyer. Me Tristan Simon pleaded for the release of the Yonne MP, wanting to demonstrate to the court that his client worked well for the European MP Mylène Troszczynski.
Two weeks earlier, on November 13, 2024, the prosecution requested ten months suspended prison sentence, a €20,000 fine and one year of ineligibility with provisional execution against Julien Odoul (RN). The Yonne MP is accused of concealment of embezzlement of European funds: from October 2014 to July 2015, he was paid by the European Parliament as a parliamentary assistant to Mylène Troszczynski but would, in reality, have worked for her party .
This Monday, November 25, 2024, at the Paris judicial court, the floor was given to his lawyer for the defense pleadings. Contacted after the hearing, Me Tristan Simon returned to the arguments presented to request the release of the Yonne MP. “The focus of the argument was the contrast between what we could hear or believe we heard against Julien Odoul in this trial, and the reality of the case,” explains the lawyer.
Julien Odoul points to “a totally incomprehensible desire for relentlessness” at the trial of the RN parliamentary assistants
He first returned to elements of the procedure which, according to him, mean that the court cannot judge this case: “The order, as interpreted by the court, would require the court to judge certain facts which the judge was not seized, which were the subject of a dismissal of the case, or which were not even the subject of an indictment”, explains Me Simon.
“Around twenty objective pieces”
On the merits of the case, he tried to demonstrate to the judges that Julien Odoul worked well for Mylène Troszczynski. “In the file, there are around twenty objective documents which demonstrate the reality of Julien Odoul’s work,” assures his counsel. In a Prévert-style list, he mentions a parliamentary newspaper, the management of social networks, the MP's website, news notes, research linked to the “Internal Market” commission of which Mylène Troszczynski was a member, press releases, etc. Julien Odoul with Mylène Troszczynski, at the Paris judicial court, October 22, 2024.
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“There is a first period, until December, when he does not work much, but then he works,” admits Mr. Simon. It thus takes up the explanations given on October 22, 2024, during the hearings of Julien Odoul and Mylène Troszczynski. The duo explained that the elected official had taken several months to understand her mandate, leaving her assistants without real work instructions.
“It was my dearest wish to work for Marine Le Pen”: Julien Odoul facing the judges, at the trial of FN assistants
The Yonne MP's counsel completed his demonstration by indicating that, in the file, there was no proof of his actual work for the FN. He adds that Julien Odoul went to Strasbourg once a month, “even though it is not obligatory for a local assistant”.
“We require a heavy and shameful sentence”
A way for him to justify an email which is at the heart of the prosecution's case. Four months after his hiring, on February 10, 2015, Julien Odoul allegedly sent the following email to Marine Le Pen: “Marine, would it be possible for me to come to Strasbourg tomorrow to see how a session in the EP is going, to meet deputies and assistants and meet Mylène Troszczynski to whom I am attached? » “Yes, of course,” the party leader would have replied.
“Marine Le Pen is the head of the FN delegation in Parliament, so it’s as if he wrote to his N+2, while Mylène Troszczynski is his N+1. He writes to her to accompany her. On the merits of the problem, there are a lot of depositions from Julien Odoul and Mylène Troszczynski where they say that they met before February 2015. It is simply a misused term. This means that they wanted to get to know each other better because they knew each other by sight. »
In conclusion, Me Tristan Simon considers that the prosecution's requisitions are “unrelated to the reality of the case. We are demanding a heavy and shameful sentence for a litigant who has shown respect for the court and justice, and who has always done the work asked of him. » For him, the facts are interpreted “by projecting ourselves onto the Julien Odoul of today, when he is 29 years old when he signs his contract, when he does not yet have support in the FN and therefore no particular power to negotiate or oppose his contract.”
All our articles on the trial of the FN parliamentary assistants
In this long trial, the pleadings of the lawyers of 25 defendants, including the leader of the RN Marine Le Pen, must end this Wednesday, November 27, 2024. The deliberation is expected at the beginning of 2025.
Antoine Compigne
