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In the spectacular corruption trial against former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the prosecution has requested a four-year prison term. Two of them will be suspended, as the French media unanimously reported in the evening.
The 65-year-old politician is accused of trying in 2014, through his legal adviser, to learn investigative secrets of Gilbert Azibert, then general counsel of the Court of Cassation. In return, the former president is said to have offered to help the lawyer apply for a position in Monaco.
Sarkozy had denied the allegations in court. “I have never committed the slightest act of bribery,” he said in court Monday. The conservative politician ruled the Elysee Palace from 2007 to 2012.
At the start of the trial in November, it was said that the defendant Sarkozy, his former lawyer Thierry Herzog and Azibert each face prison terms of up to ten years and a fine of one million euros. For Herzog and Azibert the same punishment was required as for Sarkozy.
The prosecution had previously justified its actions. “Nobody here wants to take revenge on a former president of the republic,” said the chief investigator of the finance prosecutor, Jean-François Bohnert, according to the French news agency AFP.
The procedure is considered unique, as there have been no allegations of corruption against a former head of state in the Fifth Republic of France, founded in 1958. Sarkozy also has to answer for alleged unauthorized influence. He is accused of having tried his legal adviser to obtain secret results after his mandate in 2014.
The accusations are based on the evaluation of wiretapped phone calls between the politician and his lawyer, Herzog. There have long been heated discussions about the legality of these wiretaps. In early 2014, they also used mobile phones registered under the pseudonym Paul Bismuth for calls. The devices had microphones because Libya was suspected of donating money for Sarkozy’s successful 2007 presidential election campaign.
It is not the first time that a former man of the Elysee Palace has been charged. Sarkozy’s predecessor in office, Jacques Chirac, was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence for embezzlement and breach of trust during his time as mayor of Paris. The conservator did not have to appear in court at that time for health problems.
Sarkozy appeared in court as a normal citizen. In 2014 he had already said goodbye to power. Presidents of France are protected by broad immunity. The process will end on Thursday.
