Will Nicolas Sarkozy be sentenced for corruption? The Paris Court of Appeal is ruling this Wednesday, May 17 in the so-called “listen” on the fate of the former head of state, his lawyer and friend Thierry Herzog and the former high magistrate Gilbert Azibert.
In an unprecedented judgment for a former president of the Ve Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced at first instance on 1is March 2021, to three years in prison, including one year in prison, for corruption and influence peddling.
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The one who never ceased to proclaim his innocence immediately appealed.
At the Sarkozy-Bismuth trial, the last charge of the defense: “You will not be able to condemn a man on the quicksand of these plays”
A “case of unprecedented gravity”
On the first day of this new trial, December 5, 2022, he claimed to have come “defending his scorned honor” and assured not to have “never corrupt anyone”.
At the end of the debates, the public prosecutor’s office castigated a “a matter of unprecedented seriousness during the Ve Republic “but did not ask for a prison sentence against the former tenant of the Elysée, 68 years old today.
At the Sarkozy-Bismuth trial, the last charge of the defense: “You will not be able to condemn a man on the quicksand of these plays”
Three years in prison fully suspended were required against the former head of state and his two co-defendants.
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The public prosecutor has also called for a five-year ban on civil rights for Nicolas Sarkozy and Gilbert Azibert, 76. This conviction would mean for the former President of the Republic a loss of the right to vote, ineligibility but also the impossibility of exercising a judicial function. A disqualification from practicing as a lawyer was also requested during the same period for Me Thierry Herzog, 67 ans.
A succession of mixed affairs
This decision is expected while the former strongman of the right is under threat of another resounding trial: the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) on Thursday requested his referral to correctional in the case of suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.
This legal file is indirectly at the origin of the “wiretapping” affair, also called “Bismuth”.
At the end of 2013, the investigating judges in charge of the investigation into suspicions of Libyan corruption decided to ” line of industries “ the two lines of Nicolas Sarkozy. They then discover the existence of a third, unofficial line.
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Purchased on January 11, 2014 under the identity of “Paul Bismuth”, it is dedicated to exchanges between the former president and his lawyer and longtime friend, Thierry Herzog.
“Is this the corruption of the century? “: at the appeal trial of the Bismuth affair, the impetuous defense of Nicolas Sarkozy
Their telephone conversations, broadcast for the first time during the second trial in December, constitute the heart of the case and the basis of the accusation.
For the public prosecutor, a pact of corruption took shape with Gilbert Azibert, then general counsel at the Court of Cassation. The latter is accused of having worked behind the scenes to influence an appeal filed by Nicolas Sarkozy in the Bettencourt affair, in exchange for a “boost” for an honorary position in Monaco.
A ricochet effect that splashes Dupont-Moretti
On February 7, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected the two priority questions of constitutionality (QPC) raised by the defense of Nicolas Sarkozy and Thierry Herzog to challenge the regularity of the prosecution.
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These QPCs concerned in particular a parallel investigation strongly contested by the defense, carried out by the PNF. Opened in 2014, it aimed to find a “mole” who informed Nicolas Sarkozy and Thierry Herzog that their “Bismuth” line was being tapped.
In this context, the financial prosecutor’s office had examined the detailed invoices (“fadettes”) of nine lawyers and geolocated three of them, over a period of a few hours. The investigation was closed without further action at the end of 2019 and transmitted to the defense in 2020.
At the Bismuth trial, Nicolas Sarkozy assumes: “I spent my life giving a helping hand”
This affair in the affair, known as the “fadettes”, led by ricochets to the referral to the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) of the current Keeper of the Seals Eric Dupond-Moretti, for having launched administrative investigations targeting three financial magistrates.
The minister lodged an appeal in cassation against this dismissal.
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At the beginning of April, another formation of the Paris Court of Appeal, seized by the bar of the capital, confirmed that the State had not committed ” heavy mistake “ in this file.
Under strong judicial pressure, Nicolas Sarkozy will be retried on appeal in the fall in the “Bygmalion” case, which relates to the costs of his 2012 presidential campaign. He had been sentenced to one year in prison in September 2021.
