Paris (AFP)

Nicolas Sarkozy's trial for corruption in the so-called "wiretapping" affair, which was originally scheduled to take place in October, will finally take place from November 23 to December 10, the Paris Criminal Court announced on Wednesday.

This discrepancy aims to avoid the concomitant holding of two very public hearings at the Paris court.

Due to the health crisis, the trial of the January 2015 attacks before a special assize court - which sits for logistical reasons at the new Paris court and not at the old courthouse - is now scheduled for September 2 to November 10.

The trial of Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption is a first for a former president under the Fifth Republic.

It will be held four afternoons a week, Monday to Thursday, before the 32nd Correctional Chamber, it was decided during a procedural hearing.

Mr. Sarkozy will be tried alongside his lawyer and friend Thierry Herzog and the former high magistrate at the Court of Cassation Gilbert Azibert.

He is suspected of having tried to obtain secret information from Gilbert Azibert at the start of 2014, through Thierry Herzog, in a procedure concerning the seizure of his agendas on the sidelines of the Bettencourt affair (settled for him by a dismissed in 2013) and this, in exchange for a boost for a position in Monaco.

At the end of their investigation, the judges ordered a trial on March 26, 2018 for "corruption" and "trading in influence" against the three men, in accordance with the requisitions of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF). MM. Herzog and Azibert will also be tried for "breach of professional secrecy".

In a severe indictment in October 2017, the PNF had compared Nicolas Sarkozy's methods to those of "a seasoned delinquent" and stigmatized the numerous appeals brought by his lawyers who had "paralyzed" the investigation.

The case originated in the interception of telephone conversations of the ex-head of state with his lawyer, carried out within the framework of the investigation into the accusations of Libyan financing of his campaign of 2007.

The police had discovered that Nicolas Sarkozy was using a secret cellphone opened with a prepaid card under the alias of "Paul Bismuth" to communicate with a single interlocutor: his lawyer.

The police tapping, the basis of the accusation, had been validated by the Court of Cassation in March 2016. But it should still fuel a bitter battle at the start of the trial.

Nicolas Sarkozy, withdrawn from political life since his defeat in the primary of the right in late 2016, must also be tried in the coming months for "illegal financing" of his 2012 campaign in the Bygmalion affair. The dates of this second trial are not yet known.

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