first tensions at the opening of Nicolas Sarkozy's trial

A former head of state and three former ministers sitting in the dock: the trial of Nicolas Sarkozy for suspicion of illegal financing of his 2007 campaign by Muammar Gaddafi's Libya opened on Monday, January 6, with the first tensions. Image of a bygone political era, Nicolas Sarkozy and three figures from his five-year term – Brice Hortefeux, Claude Guéant and Eric Woerth – sit in a line, side by side, before getting up in turn to state their identity.

The former head of state, 69, is experienced in the exercise: this is his fifth trial in five years. Looking serious, he walks towards the bar in his navy blue suit, folds his hands in front of him, before giving the court his date and place of birth, and the names of his parents. « Profession ? »asks President Nathalie Gavarino. ” Lawyer. » Family situation ? “I’m married. » Of French nationality? ” My wife ? » No, you. ” Oh yes “he apologizes with a little laugh.

Twelve men were tried in total. Among those present: Thierry Gaubert, close to Nicolas Sarkozy, and the discreet intermediary Alexandre Djouhri. Four are absent: two Saudi businessmen, the Libyan Bechir Saleh (former right-hand man of Gaddafi) and the sulphurous Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine, both targeted by an arrest warrant. On the run in Lebanon since 2020, the latter claimed on RTL Monday morning that ” person “ didn't have it “summoned” for this hearing.

Nicolas Sarkozy cropped

After the usual formalities, the court looks into procedural debates. The counsel of Brice Hortefeux and Nicolas Sarkozy raise the incompetence of the court in favor of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), because they were ministers at the time of the events. Nicolas Sarkozy begins to get agitated on his folding seat around 6 p.m., when the prosecutor, Quentin Dandoy, recalls that the ex-president has already taken legal action on this point during the investigation. And twice the judges rejected this request.

“You are going to make people believe that there is a sort of association between magistrates who are extremely angry with Nicolas Sarkozy, and who have gathered, perhaps at the palace refreshment bar, to say “Nicolas Sarkozy and the CJR c 'is neither, it will be the common law court because it is more severe'? »says the magistrate, under the silent and tense sneers of Nicolas Sarkozy. “This kind of insinuation seriously undermines the independence of justice”he adds, while Nicolas Sarkozy seethes while commenting in a low voice.

The president cuts short: “Speech is free, but irony has no place”she told the prosecutor. “Yes, it shocks me”abounds, furious, Nicolas Sarkozy. The prosecutor in turn protests: “I'm just responding to Mr. Sarkozy who says that what I say is frightening, when I only say the facts. » The hearing was adjourned at 7:15 p.m. without the court making a decision. It will resume on Wednesday.

Ten years in prison

Nicolas Sarkozy is accused of having spent the end of 2005, notably with the help of his very close friends Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, a “corruption pact” with the wealthy Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who fell in 2011, so that he “support” financially his accession to the Elysée.

Tried for corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds, illegal campaign financing and criminal association, he faces ten years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros, as well as deprivation of civil rights (therefore ineligibility) of up to at five years old.

Nicolas Sarkozy's entourage assures that he is “combative” et ” determined “ to prove his innocence in the face of what he has always described as « fable ». The accusation is brought by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF). “Our work is not political work, we are not politically engageddeclared the financial prosecutor, Jean-François Bohnert, Monday morning on BFM-TV/RMC. We only have one compass, and that is the law. »

In mid-December, Nicolas Sarkozy was definitively sentenced to one year on an electronic bracelet in the so-called wiretapping affair. He does not yet wear this bracelet – it could take several weeks – which allowed him to spend his vacation in the Seychelles, with his wife, the singer Carla Bruni, and their daughter.