On December 18, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal of the former head of state in the case also known as “Paul Bismuth”, confirming his conviction on appeal. A business that started in Nice in 2014.
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The Court of Cassation handed down its decision this (New window) thisWednesday, December 18, in the wiretapping case. In this case, also known as the “Paul Bismuth affair”, the high court rejected the appeal of the former President of the Republic.
A so-called “wiretapping” affair, in which former President Nicolas Sarkozy was definitively convicted of corruption and influence peddling.
A look back at a business with Nice roots.
On February 26, 2014, a judicial investigation against X was opened for influence peddling and violation of the secrecy of the investigation.
On March 4, 2014,The Nice apartment of Thierry Herzog, Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyer, was searched. Justice would seek to know if Nicolas Sarkozy and Me Herzog had tried to discreetly secure the support of the advocate general at the Court of Cassation Gilbert Azibert.
Justice sought to know if Nicolas Sarkozy and Me Herzog tried to discreetly secure the support of this magistrate as part of his investigation into the Bettencourt affair.
On the 7th, Le Monde revealed that the former President of the Republic (2007-2012) was wiretapped in an investigation opened the previous year into accusations of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.
Investigators then discovered that he was using a line dedicated to his conversations with Thierry Herzog, opened by the latter under the assumed identity of “Paul Bismuth”.
Intercepted calls in early 2014 suggested that the two men were seeking information from Gilbert Azibert about a legal decision concerning Mr Sarkozy (the use by the courts of his diaries seized in the Bettencourt affair, in which he benefited from a dismissal).
In exchange, the ex-president allegedly promised to intervene to help the magistrate at the end of his career obtain a position in Monaco. Job he won’t get.
On the 20th, the former head of state denounced in a forum methods worthy of the Stasi, the political police of the former East Germany.
The 1is July 2014, Nicolas Sarkozy is the first former French head of state to be placed in police custody. He is indicted, as are MM. Herzog and Azibert, on the night of 1is to 2 for active corruption, active influence peddling and concealment of violation of professional secrecy.
He denounces a “political instrumentalization” of justice.
On July 12, Le Monde published transcripts of telephone tapping in which Nicolas Sarkozy promised Me Herzog to intervene for Mr. Azibert, before giving it up.
This change of heart suggested that Nicolas Sarkozy had learned that he had been tapped, but the investigators searched in vain for the “mole” who would have informed him.
On May 7, 2015, the Paris Court of Appeal validated the wiretapping of the former head of state, who appealed to the Court of Cassation.
In December, the court of appeal rejected his request to disqualify one of the two investigating judges in charge of the case, Claire Thépaut, a member of the Magistrates’ Union, classified on the left.
On March 22, 2016, the Court of Cassation in turn validated the wiretapping.
Two years later, on March 26, 2018, Nicolas Sarkozy, Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert were sent to prison for active corruption and influence peddling.
The latter two are also for violation of professional secrecy. Everyone appeals.
After the rejection of several appeals, the Court of Cassation definitively validated, in June 2019, the referral of the three men to court.
Tried in November and December 2020 before the Paris criminal court, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gilbert Azibert and Thierry Herzog were sentenced, on March 1, 2021, to three years’ imprisonment, including one for corruption and influence peddling.
On May 17, 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the sentences handed down at first instance.
On Wednesday, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeals filed by the three men. The sentencing of Nicolas Sarkozy to one year in prison under an electronic bracelet and three years of ineligibility therefore becomes definitive.
His lawyer indicated that the former president “will obviously comply” with his conviction, but that he was referring the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which does not, however, prevent the execution of the sanctions imposed.
