Did Nicolas Sarkozy send two lawyers to Libya to negotiate the release of Abdallah Senoussi, sentenced to life in 1999 for the attack on the UTA DC-10 in 1989, where 170 people died? After the testimonies of the victims' families, at the trial of suspicions of Libyan financing of the 2007 presidential campaign, the court asked the question Thursday, January 23, to the former head of state. Who clearly answered « non ». And suggested that if this trip actually took place in 2005, which he does not know, the two lawyers would have rather been sent… by Jacques Chirac, then President of the Republic.
For the prosecution, the sequence is clear. No one disputes that the fate of Abdallah Senoussi, the brother-in-law of Muammar Gaddafi and head of military intelligence, concerned the Libyans. Ziad Takieddine, the Franco-Lebanese intermediary in charge of Senoussi's interests, organized a first secret visit by Claude Guéant to Libya, where the director of the cabinet of Nicolas Sarkozy, then minister of the interior, discreetly met the convict, the 1is October 2005. This fact is proven.
Nicolas Sarkozy then met the Libyan “Guide” on October 6, 2005, the case of Senoussi was indeed mentioned, but the minister replied that it was in no way within his competence, and the two men were not alone for a moment, which Nicolas Sarkozy demonstrated quite well. He deduces that “the corruption pact”, supposed to have been concluded that day – Libyan financing in return for compensation, including the pardon of Senoussi – was an illusion.
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Next episode, Brice Hortefeux, then minister of local authorities, had to go to Libya in November 2005, for a visit which appeared to be quite controversial, both at the Quai d'Orsay and at the French embassy. He only finally went there on December 21, and in turn met Senoussi discreetly at his home. Why this postponement? “Because there was no emergency”replies Brice Hortefeux, and that he had some free time on Christmas Eve. The most disturbing thing is that the postponement of the trip and these visits were planned by Ziad Takieddine, in notes delivered – certainly to harm him – by his ex-wife.
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