Paris (AFP)

A new trial is announced for Nicolas Sarkozy, who must already be judged in the case of "plays": the Court of Cassation confirmed definitively Tuesday his referral in correctional for the excessive spending of his presidential campaign of 2012, brought to light by the Bygmalion case.

The decision of the highest court thus puts an end to a bitter procedural battle that had lasted since the examining magistrate Serge Tournaire had ordered, in February 2017, the holding of this trial.

The former president will be tried for "illegal financing of election campaign", a crime punishable by one year in prison and 3,750 euros fine.

In concrete terms, he is being prosecuted for having exceeded the threshold of election expenses of more than 20 million euros, despite the warnings of the accountants of the campaign in March and April 2012.

To challenge his dismissal, Nicolas Sarkozy had brandished the principle of "non bis in idem", according to which a person can not be sanctioned twice for the same facts. He considers that he had already been definitively sanctioned by the Constitutional Council in 2013, when the body had confirmed the rejection of his accounts for this overrun, which he had had to repay.

However, this sanction involved a slippage of 363,615 euros, found before the revelation in spring 2014 of a vast system of false invoices to disguise the runaway expenses of its meetings, organized by the Bygmalion agency.

The defense of the former president raised a priority issue of constitutionality, but it was rejected on May 17. The "Sages" considered that the financial sanction and penal sanction were of a different nature and protected distinct "social interests".

In its judgment of Tuesday, the Court of Cassation considers that it does not fall to him, at this stage, to pronounce on the grievances of Nicolas Sarkozy and that it is the court correctional to examine them.

- After Chirac -

"This is a disappointment because the proposed criticism was likely to be welcomed, but in reality the Court of Cassation did not respond and leave it to the court to do so," reacted to AFP Me Emmanuel Piwnica, lawyer of Mr. Sarkozy.

"Once again, President Sarkozy is not concerned with the facts about Bygmalion, but only about exceeding the spending ceiling," he said.

Thirteen other people - former members of the UMP party (now LR), campaign leaders and Bygmalion leaders - will also be on the bench of defendants, prosecuted for their part for "complicity" in illegal campaign financing and "fraud". Among them: the former MEP Jérôme Lavrilleux, the president of Tours Métropole Philippe Briand, or the founder of Bygmalion Bastien Millot, close to Jean-François Cope.

Seven of them also filed appeals, all of which were dismissed by the Court of Cassation.

"We are now looking forward to hearing," said AFP Christophe Ingrain and Rémi Lorrain, lawyers Guillaume Lambert, the former director of the presidential campaign, one of the other defendants. "We are convinced that the reasoning of the investigating magistrate will not withstand the thorough analysis of the case by a criminal court," they added.

However, this trial can not be held for several months, given the delay in hearing.

Previously, Nicolas Sarkozy, withdrawn from politics since 2016, must be tried for "influence peddling" and "corruption" of a high magistrate of the Court of Cassation in another case, revealed by wiretapping on a phone which he used under the pseudonym of "Paul Bismuth".

It has also been indicted since March 2018 in the investigation into the alleged Libyan financing of its 2007 campaign, for "passive bribery", "concealment of embezzlement of Libyan public funds" and "illegal campaign financing". The Paris Court of Appeal will examine on October 17 its request to request the cancellation of these lawsuits.

© 2019 AFP