In its decision expected this Wednesday, around 2 p.m., the Court of Cassation could reject the appeals, which would make definitive the unprecedented conviction of Nicolas Sarkozy, for corruption and influence peddling, to three years of imprisonment, of which one year is closed. under electronic bracelet, with three years of ineligibility.
In this case, these sentences, so far suspended, would be applied: the former president, aged 69, would then be summoned before a sentence enforcement judge to have a bracelet placed on him. But the Court of Cassation could also annul the decision, partially or totally, and order a new trial, or even revise it in part, without a new hearing.
A first for a former head of state
In this case also called Bismuth, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed, on May 17, 2023, the convictions of Nicolas Sarkozy, his historic lawyer, Me Thierry Herzog, as well as the former high magistrate Gilbert Azibert (1 ) – who were given the same sentence, but with, for the second, a ban on wearing the black dress for three years.
An unprecedented sanction: Nicolas Sarkozy is, in fact, the first former president sentenced to prison, his former mentor Jacques Chirac having been given, in 2011, a two-year suspended prison sentence in the case of fictitious jobs of the City of Paris.
The defendants, who claim their innocence, filed cassation appeals, raising 20 main arguments examined during a hearing on November 6, after which the decision was reserved.
Before the opening of another resounding trial
This decision by the Court of Cassation will come a few days before the opening of the trial into suspicions of Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign, which will be held from January 6 to April 10, after a decade of investigations.
The two cases are also procedurally linked since it was the investigating judges in the Libyan case who, having wiretapped Nicolas Sarkozy, discovered, at the beginning of 2014, the existence of an unofficial line, opened under the alias Paul Bismuth and dedicated to the exchanges between the ex-president and Thierry Herzog.
A procedure that “should never have seen the light of day”
Alongside his lawyer, Nicolas Sarkozy was condemned for having entered into, at that time, a “corruption pact” with Gilbert Azibert, senior magistrate at the Court of Cassation, so that he would transmit information and try to influence an appeal filed by Nicolas Sarkozy in the Bettencourt affair. And this, in exchange for a promised “help” for an honorary position in Monaco.
In this case, we no longer count the illegalities committed, the breaches and attacks on fundamental rights
Before the Court of Cassation, which examines compliance with the rules of law and not the merits, the Advocate General recommended the rejection of the appeals. Me Emmanuel Piwnica, Thierry Herzog’s lawyer, for his part, castigated a procedure which “should never have seen the light of day”, speaking of a case where “we no longer count the illegalities committed, the breaches and the violations fundamental rights”. The defense hopes in particular that a recent decision of the Constitutional Council, from September 2023, will allow it to obtain a new trial. The lawyers believe that a re-examination of their request for cancellation of the entire procedure, linked to a parallel investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) – the so-called “fadettes” investigation, is necessary.
This constitutional decision was recently invoked in the Fillon case, without success – the two cases are nevertheless different.
Illegal eavesdropping?
Me Patrice Spinosi, Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyer, also supported the illegality of the wiretapping at the heart of the case. A point already debated many times and dismissed by the court of appeal. He affirmed that the “strict application of the law”, in particular of European jurisprudence, requires canceling the transcription of conversations between a lawyer and his client.
1. Photo credits: Thomas Coex, Philippe Lopez and Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP.
Bygmalion case: the Court of Cassation also called to rule in 2025
In 2025, the Court of Cassation will also have to rule on the former president’s appeal against his sentence to one year in prison, including six months, in the Bygmalion affair, concerning the excessive spending of his 2012 campaign.
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