The French prosecutor's office is seeking seven years in prison for Nicolas Sarkozy.
The former French president is accused of having financed the 2007 campaign with money from Moammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime.
BarcelonaThe Prosecutor's Office is requesting seven years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is being tried. for having financed the campaign that led him to the presidency with money from the Libyan regime of Moammar GaddafiThis is the harshest request made against the twelve defendants in this trial, which began on January 6, and in which the prosecution believes the facts have been proven.
After nearly two months of trial, prosecutors have found that Sarkozy made "a corruption pact" with "a bloodthirsty regime" with the aim of "financially supporting" his 2007 presidential campaign.
The tenant of the 20th to", "misappropriation of public funds", "money laundering" and "illegal campaign financing". For these charges, he faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of 375,000 euros and a ban on holding office for up to 5 years. However, a sentencing date has not yet been set.
The Prosecutor's Office has also requested convictions for two former ministers also on trial in the case. Claude Guéant faces a six-year prison sentence and a fine of 100,000 euros, and Brice Hortefeux, a fine of 150,000 euros.
The ten weeks of trial have been marked by "extravagant explanations" from the three former ministers who held prominent positions during the campaign of the then candidate of the Union for a Popular Movement, according to the prosecution's brief. This is what has reversed the opinion of the prosecution, which is now "intimately convinced" of the former president's guilt.
Sarkozy had argued that he was the victim of a plot devised to exact revenge against him. But the prosecution dismissed this hypothesis and considered that he made the decisions and gave the orders of this corrupt pact.
"Victim of injustice"
Sarkozy criticized the prosecution's brief, arguing that "none of the facts presented by his defense during the hearing" had been able to change the "ideology" of the court, which was determined to "prove" his "guilt." In a statement on social media, he denounced the falsity of the evidence presented and criticized the prosecution for inventing "intellectual constructions" to blame him. "I will continue to fight for the truth," he argued. "He who is a victim of injustice has less to complain about than he who defends the truth," he said, adding that those accusing him now will find their place "before the tribunal of history."
A case uncovered by journalists
The case was uncovered in 2012, when the independent media Mediapart published information from the Libyan secret services showing that the Gaddafi regime had paid 50 million euros to Sarkozy's party shortly before the start of the 2007 presidential campaign. In fact, a year earlier, the Libyan dictator's son had already made statements to Euronews in which he mentioned that his country had provided funding.