The trial of ex-Minister of the Interior Claude Guéant postponed for medical reasons
Claude Guéant at the Paris courthouse during the Elysée polls trial, October 18, 2021. © AFP/Stéphane de Sakutin
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Claude Guéant was to be tried from this Tuesday, February 15 in Nanterre, near Paris, for “fraud” of campaign expenses.
His trial was adjourned to October 11 and 12, 2022.
Advertising
Read more
Monday, February 14, on the eve of his trial, the former Minister of the Interior Claude Guéant had been "
emergency hospitalized
" to "
undergo a surgical operation
", according to his lawyer.
The latter therefore requested this Tuesday, February 15, the dismissal of the trial, explaining that the essential man of the Sarkozy presidency, now 77 years old, was going to have to benefit from a month of convalescence.
"
Mr. Guéant wishes to be judged in person, he wants to be able to explain himself in this case
", assured Me Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi at the hearing.
"
The dismissal seems to me to be necessary
", conceded the prosecutor Nathalie Foy, asking the court to order a medical expertise "in
depth and perfectly objectified
" of the state of health of the ex-minister.
which the court accepted.
"
It is in the interest of justice that all (the defendants) can be confronted with this bar
", continued the prosecutor.
"Scam" of campaign costs and "illicit financing"
Accused of "fraud" of campaign costs, he was also to appear for "illicit financing" of his 2012 legislative campaign, after the distribution of a leaflet in his favor by the UMP mayor (now LR) of Boulogne-Billancourt , Pierre-Christophe Baguet.
Four other people, present at the hearing, were to be tried over two days, including Pierre-Christophe Baguet, accused of "illicit financing" of the campaign.
The prosecution accuses Pierre-Christophe Baguet and Claude Guéant of having sought to have the city of Boulogne-Billancourt finance electoral propaganda expenses in support of Claude Guéant's candidacy.
What the two defendants formally contest.
Former secretary general of the Élysée, Claude Guéant had already been
imprisoned from December 13 to February 9 in connection with another case
.
He has since been released on parole.
(
with AFP
)
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
France
Justice