Lawyers of the three former ministers argue the « abyssal emptiness » of the file – Liberation
To hear the lawyers of Claude Guéant, Brice Hortefeux and Éric Woerth, the file which led their customers before the 32nd chamber of the Paris Criminal Court is empty, or almost. This Monday, April 7, on the eve of the closure of the Libyan financing trial suspected of the presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, the councils of the three former right -wing ministers questioned to various degrees in this case pleaded, in unison, the release and tried to respond to The heavy burden of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) in its requisitions.
« Over time the hypothesis becomes a conviction and the conviction a pseudo-demo of guilt »Critique Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi, who defends Claude Guéant, former chief of staff to Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior. For the lawyer, this « Sum of hypotheses is not worth proof of the prosecuted crimes ». Jean-Yves Dupeux, alongside Brice Hortefeux, says that there are many clues « Serious » But they would not be precise or concordant – conditions necessary for a conviction. A few times earlier, Eric Woerth’s lawyer, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, addressing the magistrates of the PNF, had the same refrain on the absence of evidence: « I am not saying that you have built something without anything, I say that you have no evidence, that these millions, that this extraordinary money, you were unable to locate it. »
The public prosecutor had requested on March 27 against Éric Woerth, prosecuted for the sole offense of illegal campaign as a treasurer, the maximum sentence, one year in prison and 3,750 euros fine. Against Brice Hortefeux, faithful among the faithful of the former President of the Republic and suspected of having sealed the « Faustian pact » duringA meeting in Tripolia sentence of three years in prison and 150,000 euros fine were required. From the trio of former ministers, it is Claude Guéant, the working ankle of the corruptive pact according to the accusation, which faces the heaviest requisitions: a sentence of six years in prison, 100,000 euros fine and the confiscation of the apartment whose accusation estimates that it was acquired thanks to 500,000 euros of Libyan money. Either, « A disguised death penalty » Against the 80 -year -old man, says Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi.
The latter sees behind the lexical prudence of the prosecution – « It is allowed to think that »,, « We can assume that » – a « Semantic strategy that struggles to hide the abysmal void » of the file. A « Card castle » built by the PNF that Philippe Bouchez el Ghozi tries to collapse by insisting on the « naivete » of his client who would have fallen into the trap set through Francois Lebanese intermediary Ziad Takieddine. In September 2005, he Secretly meeting at a Tripoli dinner, Abdallah Senoussibrother-in-law of Muammar Gaddafi, at the Curriculum Vitae Crimunnel loaded. This former head of Libyan secret services was condemned in absentia by the Paris Special Assize Court for his role in the 1989 attack on the DC10 of UTA, which left 170 dead including 54 French. This stay of Claude Guéant in Libya was organized for the sole purpose, he says, to prepare for the scheduled trip a few days later of his leader. It is « A visit that is not unusual »advance Philippe Bouchez El Ghozi.
The lawyer then embarked on the exegesis of the notes of Ziad Takieddine who indicated upstream of Claude Guéant’s visit that an meeting between the senior official and the « Number 2 » of the regime, either Abdallah Senoussi, was planned. But « You have nothing that allows you to assert that it was previously brought to the attention of Claude Guéant », he said. Likewise, according to Bouchez El Ghozi, the file would contain nothing about the words exchanged during dinner. This argument of an ambush with Abdallah Senoussi is also advanced by Jean-Yves Dupeux for the case of his client Brice Hortefeux. A « Traquenard mounted by Ziad Takieddine »always him.
The most notable in the argument of Brice Hortefeux’s lawyer is in the arguments that the same criminal court could judge racist, used to discredit the sulphurous intermediate, currently on the run and not represented at the hearing. On several occasions, Jean-Yves Dupeux recalls the Lebanese origin of the intermediary to denigrate him. « It’s a Levantine, he only thinks of his bank account »thus launches the lawyer to paint the portrait of a man eager for money, « Of diabolical intelligence », ready for all tricks.
The hearing ends Tuesday, April 8, after 38 days of audience, with the pleadings of the four lawyers of Nicolas Sarkozy, against whom seven years’ imprisonment were required. The court will then give the floor to the defendants one last time and announce the date of the judgment, which will be rendered after a deliberation of several months.
