French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy is on trial in Paris from Monday in the so-called eavesdropping affair. After Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy is the second French president since the founding of the Fifth Republic to answer in court.
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Sarkozy, now 65, is accused of attempting to steal classified information from a high-ranking judge. In return, he is said to have offered him an important post in Monaco.
The case is related to the ‘Libyan affair’, for which Sarkozy has also been charged. The ex-president is said to have received 50 million euros from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2007 to finance his election campaign. That he tried to bribe a judge was discovered when the investigating judge had Sarkozy wiretapped in 2013 in connection with that illegal campaign financing.
The trial will run until December 10. Sarkozy faces a prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of one million euros.
Other Lawsuits
Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, is the second ex-president since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958 to answer in court. In 2011, the meanwhile passed away Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy’s predecessor, sentenced to 2 years in prison for misappropriation of public funds during his Paris mayorship.
The ex-president is later also on trial in the Libyan affair and in March 2021 in the Bygmalion affair, another corruption case. In it, he is accused of spending millions of euros more on his election campaign in 2012 than legally allowed. Sarkozy has denied all charges.
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