The former president was sentenced on appeal to three years in prison, including one year, in the so-called “Bismuth” case. He is appealing in cassation.
By Martin Pereira for Le Point (with AFP)
© JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
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CThis case dates back to 2014. In telephone tapping – on a specially created line, under the name of “Paul Bismuth”, hence the nickname of the case – intercepted between Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, the two men would have exchanged about a procedure in the Bettencourt affair. The two men would have made a pact with Gilbert Azibert for the latter to provide them with confidential information, in exchange for a boost to obtain a post that the high magistrate hoped for.
On Wednesday May 17, Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on appeal in Paris to three years in prison, including one year to be executed under an electronic bracelet, for corruption and influence peddling in the wiretapping affair, an unprecedented sanction for a former chief. of State. The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the sentence pronounced at first instance, on March 1, 2021, against the former President of the Republic, who immediately announced a power of cassation.
READ ALSOWiretapping case: Sarkozy sentenced to three years in prison, including one year
Here are some key dates to fully understand the case.
Listening
On February 26, 2014, a judicial investigation against X was opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office for influence peddling and violation of the secrecy of the investigation.
On March 4, searches were carried out at the homes and offices of Nicolas Sarkozy’s lawyer, Mr.e Thierry Herzog, and with the high magistrate Gilbert Azibert, in post at the general prosecutor’s office of the Court of Cassation.
The 7th, The world reveals that the former President of the Republic (2007-2012) was wiretapped in an investigation opened the previous year on accusations of Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign.
The investigators then discovered that he was using a line dedicated to his conversations with Thierry Herzog, opened by the latter under the assumed identity of “Paul Bismuth”. Calls intercepted in early 2014 suggested that the two men were seeking information from Gilbert Azibert about a court decision concerning Nicolas Sarkozy (the use by the courts of his diaries seized in the context of the Bettencourt affair, in which he benefited from a dismissal). In exchange, the ex-president would have promised to intervene to help the magistrate at the end of his career to obtain a post in Monaco. Post he will not get.
On the 20th, the former head of state denounced in a forum methods worthy of “the Stasi”, the political police of the former East Germany.
Indictments
The 1is July 2014, Nicolas Sarkozy is the first former French head of state to be placed in police custody. He is indicted (just like Herzog and Azibert) on the night of 1is to 2 for active corruption, active influence peddling and concealment of violation of professional secrecy. He denounces a “political instrumentalization” of justice.
July 12, The world publishes transcriptions of telephone tapping in which Nicolas Sarkozy promises Me Herzog to intervene for Gilbert Azibert, before renouncing it. This reversal suggested that Nicolas Sarkozy had learned to be wiretapped, but the investigators will search in vain for the “mole” who would have informed him.
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Appeals dismissed
On May 7, 2015, the Paris Court of Appeal validated the wiretapping of the former head of state, who appealed in cassation.
In December, the Court of Appeal rejected his request for the recusal of one of the two investigating judges in charge of the case, Claire Thépaut, a member of the Syndicat de la magistrature (classified on the left).
On March 22, 2016, the Court of Cassation in turn validated the tapping.
Two years later, on March 26, 2018, Nicolas Sarkozy, Thierry Herzog and Gilbert Azibert were sent back to corrections for active corruption and influence peddling. The latter two are also for violation of professional secrecy. All appeal. After the rejection of several appeals, the Court of Cassation definitively validated, in June 2019, the referral of the three men to court.
Tried in November-December 2020 before the Paris Criminal Court, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gilbert Azibert and Thierry Herzog were sentenced on 1is March 2021, to three years in prison, including one year in prison for corruption and influence peddling. They call. At the end of this second appeal trial, in December 2022, the prosecution requested three years in prison suspended against the three defendants. On May 17, 2023, the former president was sentenced on appeal in Paris to three years in prison, including one year to be executed under an electronic bracelet, for corruption and influence peddling. An unprecedented sanction for a former head of state.
2023-05-17 08:56:43
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