The fifth trial in five years of Nicolas Sarkozy opened Monday in Paris with the first tensions: the former French president must answer this time, alongside three former ministers, to accusations of illegal financing of his 2007 campaign by Libya of Muammar Gaddafi.
Dressed in a navy blue suit, the former head of state (2007-2012) entered the courtroom at the start of the afternoon, passing in front of a wall of cameras without making a statement.
Among the 11 other defendants are former ministers Brice Hortefeux, Claude Guéant and Eric Woerth, as well as Thierry Gaubert, close to Nicolas Sarkozy, and intermediary Alexandre Djouhri.
Four are absent: two Saudi businessmen, the Libyan Béchir 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 that “no one” had “summoned” him for this hearing.
The vast courtroom, where the case is to be heard for four months, was packed.
Looking serious, the former head of state walked towards the bar in his navy blue suit, crossed his hands in front of him, before giving the court his date and place of birth, and the name of his parents.
Profession?, asks President Nathalie Gavarino. “Lawyer”. Family situation ? “I am married”. Of French nationality? “My wife ?” No, you. “Ah yes,” the ex-president apologizes with a little laugh.
– “Corruption pact” –
The entourage of Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, assures that he is “combative” and “determined” to prove his innocence in the face of what he has always described as a “fable”.
He is accused, while he was Minister of the Interior, of having entered into a “corruption pact” with the wealthy Libyan dictator, so that he would “financially support” his accession to the French presidency.
Tried for corruption, concealment of embezzlement of public funds, illegal campaign financing and criminal association, Nicolas Sarkozy faces 10 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.
After the call of the defendants, the civil parties and the witnesses, the president gave the floor to the defense lawyers for procedural questions, which should occupy the court throughout the first week.
– Procedural questions –
The lawyers 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, when 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 ‘it’s true, it will be the common law court because it is more severe? +”, says the magistrate, to 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 it short: “Speech is free, but irony has no place,” she tells the prosecutor. “It’s shocking,” says Nicolas Sarkozy, furious. The prosecutor in turn protests: “I’m just responding to Mr. Sarkozy who says that what I say is frightening, while I only say the facts.”
The hearing was suspended in the early evening without the court making a ruling. It will resume on Wednesday.
– “Beam of clues” –
Nicolas Sarkozy disputes everything: for him, the Libyans’ accusations are only “revenge” explained by his active support for the Libyan rebels at the time of the Arab Spring which brought down Mr. Gaddafi, killed in October 2011.
The prosecution believes that the “corruption pact” was established in the fall of 2005 in Tripoli, under the tent of Muammar Gaddafi, known for being very generous with his foreign visitors.
Nicolas Sarkozy was then an ambitious and highly publicized minister thinking about the presidential election. His visit to Libya was officially devoted to illegal immigration.
The prosecution was unable to establish an exact total amount of the alleged financing. But after 10 years of investigation, a “body of evidence” convinced the investigating judges.
