The figure of the press people Michèle Marchand, known as "Mimi", was released Wednesday after a month of pre-trial detention.
She had been in jail since June 18 for having violated her judicial control after being indicted for "witness tampering" and "criminal conspiracy to commit an organized swindle".
"Mimi" Marchand, a powerful figure of the press people, was released on Wednesday after a month of pre-trial detention in a part of the case of suspicion of Libyan financing of the 2007 presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy, AFP has learned with his lawyer.
The boss of the BestImage agency, whose real name is Michèle Marchand, was imprisoned on June 18 for failing to comply with her judicial review.
"Mimi" Marchand, 74, had indeed been surprised, in a wiretap, talking on June 9 with the paparazzi Sébastien Valiela, in violation of the ban decreed by the judges since his indictment.
"Michèle Marchand was able to explain herself at length during a new interrogation and the examining magistrates granted her request for release", welcomed Me Caroline Toby.
Prosecuted following controversial interview
Since the beginning of June, Michèle Marchand has been prosecuted for her involvement in the resounding interview, broadcast in mid-November by BFMTV and Paris Match, of Ziad Takieddine, during which the sulphurous intermediary had withdrawn his accusations against Nicolas Sarkozy.
The magistrates of the financial center of the Paris court suspect that this retraction could have been bought or at least remotely controlled fraudulently.
>>
READ ALSO
- Takieddine case: why Mimi Marchand, figure of the press people, was indicted
Ziad Takieddine, sentenced in France and on the run in Lebanon, denied this retraction two months later before the judges in charge of the Libyan case who came to question him in Lebanon.
Known for his versatility, the intermediary said his words had been "distorted" by Paris Match, which "belongs to a friend of Sarkozy".
Four other people suspected of having played a role in this interview
"Mimi" Marchand, present in October in Lebanon during the interview and at the heart of the exchanges between the protagonists of this part of the case, is indicted for "witness bribery" and "criminal association with a view to committing an organized gang scam ". Four other people, suspected of having played a role in the organization or financing of this controversial interview, are indicted in this investigation.
According to elements of the file consulted by AFP, the investigators wonder about the intensity of the exchanges, around the period of the interview, between on the one hand "Mimi" Marchand and the director of Paris Match Hervé Gattegno; and on the other between the latter, Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog. The three men have not been heard from in the investigation so far.