This is the first time under the Fifth Republic that a former president will be tried for corruption. The Court of Cassation rejected on Tuesday, June 18, the last appeals of former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy, his lawyer Thierry Herzog and ex-high magistrate Gilbert Azibert to avoid a trial for "corruption" and "trafficking". 'influence".
The trial, which promises to be a first for Nicolas Sarkozy, also threatened by the Bygmalion affair, should be held in Paris in the coming months.
Nicolas Sarkozy, a political retiree since his defeat at the right-wing primary school at the end of 2016, is suspected of having attempted to obtain secret information from Gilbert Azibert in early 2014 via his lawyer Thierry Herzog in proceedings concerning the seizure of his diaries in the Bettencourt affair, paid for him by a dismissal in 2013. He reportedly provided this information in return for a boost for a prestigious position in Monaco.
Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert also judged
At the end of their investigation, enamelled of numerous recourses, the judges had ordered on March 26, 2018 a trial for "corruption" and "trading of influence" against the three men, in accordance with the requisitions of the national prosecutor's office (PNF) in October 2017 Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert will also be tried for "breach of professional secrecy".
Tuesday, the Court of Cassation had already rejected the appeals of Nicolas Sarkozy and Thierry Herzog against the indictment of the PNF. She also validated the trial for Gilbert Azibert.
The High Court had also examined, in a fast track, the appeals of Nicolas Sarkozy and Thierry Herzog to challenge their referral to the Criminal Court. It rejected them in the wake, which definitely validates the holding of the trial, according to a source familiar with the case and one of the defense lawyers.
Solicited, the lawyers of Nicolas Sarkozy were not reachable immediately.
The case originated in phone calls from the former head of state in another investigation, the one on the charges of Libyan financing of his campaign of 2007. Thanks to these plays, the investigators had noticed that the former president and his lawyer communicated via cell phones acquired under a false identity, including that of Paul Bismuth for Nicolas Sarkozy.
With AFP