“The truth will ultimately triumph,” says Nicolas Sarkozy in a message on X, several tens of minutes after the sentence. This Thursday, December 18, he was definitively sentenced in the wiretapping affair, also called the Paul Bismuth affair, after the rejection of his appeals by the highest instance of the judiciary.
Until now suspended, this sentence, to which is added three years of ineligibility, is now applicable. Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, will be summoned before a sentencing judge who will have to determine the terms of his electronic bracelet.
“My rights as a litigant have been violated”
“I have just been convicted of a so-called ‘corruption pact’ with someone – Judge Azibert – to whom I did not speak, without any compensation, neither financial nor of any kind. I am accused of having thought of helping an application which was never formulated, with an intervention which was never made, in exchange for a service which was never requested nor provided”, indicates- he. And added: “As I have always done during these 12 long years of legal harassment, I will assume my responsibilities and face all its consequences. It is in no way my intention to complain. I am so aware of having been favored by life in many ways.”
In the same message, he says: “I am not decided to accept the profound injustice done to me. My rights as a litigant have been violated both in terms of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and that of the Constitutional Council. The appeal that I am making before the ECHR could unfortunately lead to France being condemned. I want to reiterate my perfect innocence and remain convinced of my rights. My determination is total on this issue as on the others.”
Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed his innocence from the start
In the Bismuth case, the former head of state was, on May 17, 2023, a second time found guilty of having entered into a “corruption pact” in 2014, alongside his historic lawyer, Thierry Herzog. with Gilbert Azibert, senior magistrate at the Court of Cassation, so that he can 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.
The three men were given the same sentence, with the lawyer banned from wearing the black dress for three years. Claiming their innocence from the start, they filed appeals, raising 20 arguments examined during a hearing on November 6, after which the decision was reserved.
The so-called wiretapping affair has its origins in another legal case, that of the Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign in 2007 – a case for which he will be tried in early 2025. Investigators had discovered that the former head of the The state had opened a second telephone line in the name of Paul Bismuth, an unofficial line.
This news comes as the former tenant of the Élysée must appear from January 6, and for four months, at the Paris court, in the case of suspicion of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.
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