Nicolas Sarkozy proclaims innocence in wiretapping case and accuses justice of political fight

Nicolas Sarkozy breaks the silence. Sentenced this Wednesday on appeal to three years in prison, including one year in the wiretapping case, the former President of the Republic gave an interview on Thursday to the Figaro in which he continues to proclaim his innocence. Accused of having helped the magistrate Gilbert Azibert to get a job in Monaco, in exchange for information on a legal case concerning him, the former head of state denies en bloc and heavily charges justice.

Nicolas Sarkozy affirms first of all that these cases made him lose the presidential election of 2012 and the primary of the right of 2016. The former president does not forgive justice. “Some magistrates are in a political fight,” he claims.

“The essential principles of our democracy have been trampled on,” he said. Nicolas Sarkzoy also questions the neutrality of the judge who pronounced the verdict on appeal. “Justice had already appointed as one of the investigating judges in the ‘Bismuth’ case, a magistrate who had declared in Mediapart, after the 2012 presidential election, ‘what is certain is that we all aspire to regain calm, serenity and confidence’, implied by Sarkozy’s defeat. Wasn’t this, however, at least likely to feed a ‘reasonable doubt’ about his impartiality?”, He asks.

“I did nothing wrong”

Nicolas Sarkozy pinpoints, moreover, the “political fight” that some magistrates would lead. “They said it publicly. It’s not a fantasy,” he insists. By way of defence, the former president argues that the exchanges between a lawyer and his client – in this case those between Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog – must be protected by professional secrecy. “The case law of the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) is formal: in no case, and in no way, can such tapping be opposable to me”, certifies Nicolas Sarkozy.