The former president and his lawyer were sentenced, in 2021, to three years in prison, including a firm year, for “active corruption” and “influence traffic”. The same penalty was pronounced against Mr. Azibert, guilty of “passive corruption”.
by Pascale Robert-Diard
Two obstacles await Nicolas Sarkozy, his lawyer Thierry Herzog, and the former magistrate Gilbert Azibert, tried from Monday 5 to Friday December 16 before the Paris Court of Appeal, in the listening case, also called Bismuth affair . The first is the motivation for the judgment rendered on March 1, 2021 by the Paris Criminal Court, which condemned them to three years’ imprisonment, including a firm year.
The court had made their own vision of the accusation, considering that a “corruption pact” had linked the three defendants, MM. Sarkozy and Herzog having indeed, according to the judgment, attempted to obtain in 2014 Azibert information on a procedure in progress before the Court of Cassation which interested the former president – the seizure of his agendas in the case Bettencourt – In exchange for an intervention promise in favor of the magistrate for an honorary position in Monaco.
He had dismissed the arguments of the defense one by one which argued on the one hand, that the evidence of this “pact” were not reported, and on the other hand, that the supposed interventions had had No effect, the Court of Cassation having rendered an unfavorable decision to Mr. Sarkozy, and the post in Monaco, paid 5,000 euros per year, having not been assigned to Mr. Azibert. The intention to commit the offense is enough to characterize it, regardless of its result, had replied the court.
“attack on public confidence”
He also accompanied his decision as a very severe expectations with regard to each defendant. Concerning Nicolas Sarkozy, the court observed that “the facts of which [he] was guilty are of particular gravity, having been committed by a former President of the Republic who was the guarantor of the independence of justice” . About Thierry Herzog, also convicted of “violation of professional secrecy” and sentenced to complementary sentence of five years of prohibition of professional exercise, the first judges noted that the “personal, fraternal link” of the lawyer with his Client Nicolas Sarkozy, had “obscured, for lack of distance, his professional discernment” and had led him “to free himself from his ethical obligations”.
The most severe words were intended for the former magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, condemned for “passive corruption”, who, according to the judges, had put his function “at the service of private interests” and “thrown discredit” On the whole of a profession.
“Such behavior [of defendants] can only seriously harm the legitimate confidence that each citizen is entitled to grant to justice” and “this deviation bearing heavily affected by the rule of law and security Legal requires a firm criminal response sanctioning in a suitable manner this attack on public confidence, “concluded the court.
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