Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is back in court for an appeal trial on charges he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election, in a case that last year saw him become France’s first modern-day head of state to go to prison. The hearings will run until 3 June.
A lower court in September found the right-wing politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, guilty of seeking to acquire funding from the late Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi’s Libya, for the campaign that saw him elected.
Sarkozy was sentenced to five years in jail – a verdict his legal team immediately appealed.
But the lower court ordered him to be sent behind bars, citing the “exceptional gravity” of the conviction.
In October, Sarkozy entered a Paris prison, serving 20 days before he was released pending the appeal.
Under France’s legal system, this appeal trial amounts to a retrial, with the court re-examining all evidence and testimony, and Sarkozy – who has denied any wrongdoing – again presumed innocent.
If convicted, Sarkozy faces up to 10 years in prison. A verdict is due in October this year.
French court rejects Sarkozy’s bid to merge jail terms in two separate cases
Legal woes
In the initial trial, prosecutors had argued Sarkozy’s aides, acting in his name, struck a deal with Gaddafi in 2005 to illegally fund his victorious presidential election bid two years later.
Investigators believe that in return, Gaddafi was promised help to restore his international image after Tripoli was blamed for the 1988 bombing of a passenger jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, and another over Niger in 1989, killing hundreds of passengers.
While the court convicted Sarkozy of criminal conspiracy over the funding scheme it did not conclude that Sarkozy received or used the funds for the campaign.
Members of Sarkozy’s circle did not wish to comment before the retrial.
Sarkozy has faced a series of legal issues since leaving office and has already received two definitive convictions in other cases.
In one, he wore an electronic ankle tag for several months, until it was removed in May last year, after being convicted for trying to extract favours from a judge.
And in the other, he will have to serve more time over illegal financing of his failed 2012 re-election bid.
According to sources close to the case, the former president has decided not to appeal a court decision rejecting his request to merge sentences in the Bismuth and Bygmalion cases.
The ruling means he must serve an additional six months in prison. The sentence is expected to be carried out under electronic monitoring, though the exact arrangements will be set by a judge at a later date.
Sarkozy prison memoir a bid to ‘control the story’ and protect image for political future
Prison diaries
Sarkozy published a book about his time in prison titled Diary of a Prisoner, with supporters lining up around a city block in Paris to buy a copy when it came out in December.
In the 216-page book, he recounts his mundane struggles with noise and low-quality food.
But he also hints at a possible alliance between the traditional right-wing Republicans party he once headed and the country’s main far-right party to “rebuild the right”.
He and his wife, singer and model Carla Bruni, face another possible trial over allegations that they tried to bribe a key prosecution witness in the Libyan campaign financing case with the help of a paparazzi boss. They deny any wrongdoing.
(RFI)
