Nicolas Sarkozy during his first appearance before a criminal court in December 2020. -
ACau / SIPA
The year 2020, a trial run for Justice?
Disrupted by a hard strike by lawyers against the pension reform and then shut down by the coronavirus epidemic, the judicial institution nevertheless managed to complete several large-scale trials such as that of the Mediator or the terrorist attacks. January 2015.
A sustained activity that will continue in 2021 if the health situation does not - once again - upset the hearings.
Political scandals, from Karachi to Bygmalion through the attacks of November 13, 2015, the judicial calendar promises to be busy.
20 Minutes
lists the most anticipated trials.
January: The trial of Edouard Balladur in the Karachi case
Edouard Balladur during Jacques Chirac's funeral in September 2019. - ISA HARSIN / SIPA
Former Prime Minister Edouard Balladur will kick off the media trials scheduled for 2021. He will be tried from January 18 to February 19 before the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR).
An expected trial which will take place before an atypical jurisdiction since only the CJR is empowered to judge offenses committed by members of the government during the exercise of their functions.
At 91, Edouard Balladur was dismissed for “complicity in the abuse of corporate assets” and “concealment” of this offense.
But he will not be alone on the bench.
François Léotard, his former Minister of Defense, will also appear for acts of "complicity".
Justice will have to determine their responsibility in the possible hidden financing of the presidential campaign of Edouard Balladur in 1995, via retrocommissions revealed by the investigation into the Karachi attack committed in 2002 in Pakistan, causing the death of 14 people including 11 French workers.
A first trial in this case, targeting several relatives of the former Prime Minister, resulted on June 15, 2020 in severe sentences before the Paris Criminal Court.
March: Nicolas Sarkozy back in court with the "Bygmalion" case trial
The former head of state has not finished with the courtrooms.
Already tried at the end of 2020 for "corruption" in the context of the "tapping" affair, Nicolas Sarkozy is due to appear from March 17 for "illegal financing of the electoral campaign".
This trial comes after a long legal battle since Nicolas Sarkozy had filed several appeals - before the Court of Cassation and then the Constitutional Council - considering that he had already been punished by the Wise Men in 2013 when his campaign accounts had been rejected.
Unsuccessful candidate in the 2012 presidential election, he is being prosecuted for having exceeded the authorized threshold for electoral expenses to the tune of more than 20 million euros.
Last October, the Court of Cassation ruled and confirmed the referral of Nicolas Sarkozy before the magistrates of the criminal court.
In this case, the former President faces a sentence of one year in prison and a fine of 3,750 euros.
A lighter sanction than the one currently hanging over him in the wiretapping case, since the prosecution requested four years in prison, two of which closed.
At the opening of the Bygmalion trial, Nicolas Sarkozy should be fixed on his fate on this subject, the judgment in the wiretapping file is expected on March 1.
April: Police officers from the
BAC Nord de Marseille
at the helm
Sebastien Bennardo, former policeman of the North Marseille Bac is the man through whom the scandal happened in 2012. - PATRICE MAGNIEN / 20 MINU / SIPA
The scandal had shaken the police house and the Marseille metropolis.
From April 12, 18 former members of a "Bac" (anti-crime squad) operating in the northern districts of the city will be tried for theft of drugs and money.
What is at stake in this trial, which comes seven years after the revelations that wavered this police unit, is to determine whether the officials acted within the framework of a well-established "system".
The defendants, who plead "misconduct", have already received penalties since three have been dismissed, one has been demoted and the others have received suspensions or blame.
The affair, widely publicized, was the subject of a recent film adaptation with the release of the film
Bac Nord
, directed by Cédric Jimenez.
May:
Nordahl Lelandais
at the assizes for the first time for the murder of Arthur Noyer
A photo of Corporal Arthur Noyer, during his funeral in September 2018. - GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP
This is the first time that Nordahl Lelandais will be faced with an assize jury.
Suspected in several cases, including that of the murder of little Maëlys, the man will be tried from May 3 to 14 for the murder of Corporal Arthur Noyer, killed in April 2017. Initially indicted for the murder of the young soldier, l 'ex-dog handler will finally be tried for murder, by decision of the investigating judges who had followed the requisitions of the prosecution rejecting premeditation.
Returned to the Chambery assizes, Nordahl Lelandais faces a sentence of thirty years of criminal imprisonment.
In March 2018, the accused admitted, before the magistrates in charge of the investigation, a fight with Arthur Noyer after hitchhiking him at the exit of a nightclub in Chambéry.
September: Opening of the trial of the November 2015 attacks
A body lies near the Bataclan on November 13, 2015. - Thibault Camus / AP / SIPA
The year 2021 will end with the opening of a sprawling trial, that of the attacks of November 13, 2015. A legal and logistical challenge since the hearing should last six months and bring together more than 1,700 civil parties.
A trial-river during which 20 people will be tried before the special assize court of Paris for their participation in a criminal terrorist association or complicity in terrorist crimes.
Among them, Salah Abdeslam, the brother of one of the suicide bombers of the attacks carried out on Parisian terraces.
Placed in solitary confinement and monitored by the prison administration, the thirty-something is the only survivor of the commandos deployed in the streets of Paris on the orders of Daesh.
Remained silent throughout the investigation, Salah Abdeslam faces a life sentence.
In total, 130 people died that evening, near the Stade de France, in bars and restaurants in the capital and during the hostage-taking at the Bataclan.
Justice
January 2015 attacks: Why the Assize Court does not accept the terrorist qualification for six accused
Justice
Wiretapping case: Four years in prison, two of which are required against Nicolas Sarkozy
Justice
Karachi case
Trial
Salah Abdeslam
Bygmalion
Terrorist attacks in Paris
Nicolas sarkozy
Nordahl Lelandais