Paris (AFP)
Gérald Darmanin on Thursday gave his "personal support" to Nicolas Sarkozy against whom he was required four years in prison, two of which were closed in the case of "tapping", assuring "to believe" the former head of state, a " honest man ".
"I have very often Nicolas Sarkozy on the phone (...) I received him for a breakfast" recently ", argued on France Info the Minister of the Interior, before providing his personal support" , his "affection" and his "respect" to the former president whom he considers his mentor.
"He is a man who has served the Republic a lot," he said.
While the former president is on trial in Paris for corruption and influence peddling in the "eavesdropping" affair, the Minister of the Interior said "to believe President Sarkozy".
"I know he is a man who is honest, he is a man" whose "whole life is devoted to political life, and therefore to the French".
"He was a very great president," he insisted, stressing that he was "too respectful" of justice to "pass judgment" on the case currently being tried.
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