Nicolas Sarkozy, pictured here on November 7, 2020, is accused of corruption and influence peddling in the so-called case -

Valery HACHE / POOL / AFP

  • The trial of Nicolas Sarkozy in the so-called “Paul Bismuth” affair opened on Monday at the Paris court.

    It must be held until December 10.

  • The former President of the Republic is accused of having tried to obtain information on the “Bettencourt” procedure from a high magistrate in exchange for a “helping hand” to get him a post in Monaco.

  • "Fighting" according to his own expression, Nicolas Sarkozy denies the facts with which he is accused.

    He faces a ten-year prison sentence and a fine of one million euros.

Already suspended.

This Monday, shortly after the opening of the trial of the so-called "Paul Bismuth" case, in which Nicolas Sarkozy is tried for "corruption", the hearing was suspended until Thursday.

The court ordered a medical expertise of Gilbert Azibert, "to be fully informed of his state of health and a possible duration of treatment that he would be required to receive". 

Nicolas Sarkozy was to be tried until December 10 with his lawyer Thierry Herzog and the former high magistrate Gilbert Azibert, absent at the hearing.

One case can hide another

The case of the "tapping", also called the "Bismuth" affair, has its origin in another legal file which threatens Nicolas Sarkozy: the suspicions of Libyan financing of his presidential campaign of 2007 which earned him a quadruple indictment.

In this case, the judges had decided in September 2013 to place the former president on tapping and discovered, in early 2014, that he was using a secret line, under the alias “Paul Bismuth”, to communicate with Thierry Herzog.

According to the prosecution, some of their conversations revealed the existence of a corruption pact: Nicolas Sarkozy, through his lawyer, considered bringing a "boost" to Gilbert Azibert for a post at Monaco he coveted - and never got.

In return, this high magistrate would have provided information covered by secrecy on a procedure initiated by the former head of state before the Court of Cassation on the sidelines of the Bettencourt case.

Follow the progress of this trial live on our journalist's Twitter account: @vvantighem

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