Nicolas Sarkozy recognized guilty of criminal association in the Gaddafi case. It is the first time that a former French head of state will go behind the bars
Judicial troubles continue for the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. He was declared guilty of criminal association for the case of suspected Libyan funding and was sentenced to five years in prison. It is the first time in the history of the French Republic that a former French head of state will end up behind the bars. The Court of Paris instead acquitted it from the accusation of passive corruption and embezzlement. Present in the classroom, by his side, his wife Carla Bruni, who arrived with him hand in hand, and his three older children.
The sentence
Sarkozy was head of the Eliseo from 2007 to 2012. And right in the context of the election campaign, between 2005 and May 2007, according to the president of the court Nathalie Gavarino, the former president ha “theascended that his tightens collaborators they acted in order to obtain financial supportsi »by the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi. His former collaborator, Claude Guéant has been recognized guilty of criminal association, passive and false corruption, while Brice Hortefeux, another collaborator, for criminal association. Both are former ministers of the interior. The former treasurer of the election campaign, Eric Woerth, was instead acquitted. According to the “secret meetings” court between Guéant, Hortefux and a high Libyan official in 2005 “they only made sense for the need to obtain funds»For the campaign, at a time when there was still no certainty of the funding by the UMP for the presidential elections of 2007.
However, for the judge there is no evidence on the alleged agreement between Sarkozy and Gaddafi and not even “demonstrations” that the Libyan funds arrived in the coffers of the presidential campaign of the former French president in 2007, despite the “compatible” times and the “not very transparent” channels through which the money had arrived. can be completely excluded ». Today the Court also expressed himself on the sentence: five years in prison and the payment of a fine of 100,000 euros. Sarkozy can appeal against the sentence, however the President of the Court has issued The mandat de Depotthat is to say “An prison order”Also in case of appeal. Therefore, the former French head of state will be convened within a month by the Prosecutor who will warn him on the date of his incarceration. Moreover, if there is an appeal, it could also be convicted of the crimes from which it was acquitted.
Case
For the accusation, between Sarkozy and Gaddafi in 2005 there would have been an agreement according to which the first would have received funds for the election campaign, providing in exchange for diplomatic and commercial favors to the dictator in order to rehabilitate the image of the Libyan government on the international scene. At the time Sarkozy was the Minister of the Interior. Furthermore, for the Prosecutor, the former French president, in exchange for the alleged funds, would have given up on pursuing Gaddafi’s brother-in-law, Abdullah Senussi: the man had been sentenced to life imprisonment in default for the attack on the DC-10 of the Auto who had killed 170 people in 1989.
In 2011, a Libyan news agency and Gaddafi himself had spoken of alleged financing of millions of euros intended for the Sarkozy presidential campaign. In 2012, The investigative site Mediapart, had published a document dating back to 2006 where an ex Libyan official spoke of the alleged agreement between the two, referring to a loan in 2005. Furthermore, the statements of Auntad Takiedine had also weighed on the position of the former French president. The Franco-Libyan man, who died on Tuesday in Beirut, had said he had delivered 5 million euros to Sarkozy and his collaborators between 2006 and 2007. Cash that would have been given by Gaddafi. Takiedine then portrayed in an interview, and then deny his retraction: another case opened thus for suspected manipulation of witnesses to Sarkozy and his wife.
Sarkozy: “Incredible injustice”
Already deprived of the Légion d’honneur after being sentenced for corruption and traffic of influences on the Paul Bismuth case, the former French president has always denied the accusations also in reference to the Libyan deal. Together with his lawyers he believes that the former Libyan officials wanted to avenge themselves after the operation in Libya in 2011. In the period of the trial he said several times that there is no “no proof”, “not even a Libyan penny”, “not even the beginning of a loan”. And today he announced that he will appeal: “If they absolutely want that I sleep in prison, well I will sleep in prison, but with a high head. I am innocent. This injustice is a scandal. I will not refuse for something I haven’t committed. Of course, I will appeal ».
