Nicolas Sarkozy at court in Paris for his appeal trial over allegations of Libyan funding in his 2007 presidential election campaign, on May 6, 2026. THOMAS SAMSON/AFP
This time, on Wednesday, May 6, Nicolas Sarkozy attended his trial, for the final day of arguments from the plaintiffs, who were no more forgiving than the day before. While he missed the well-structured argument from the organization Sherpa, he listened impassively to those put forward by Anticor and Transparency International. For the first time ever, all three anti-corruption associations had come together at the appeal trial in the case of alleged Libyan funding of Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign
Sherpa has been following the case for 13 years, and their lawyer, Vincent Brengarth, set out five lines of argument on Tuesday. First, he emphasized "the historical significance of the case," not only because of the main defendant's high profile, but also because it showed "an almost perfect chain of corruption: former public officials, corruption agents – such as Alexandre Djouhri, who wants to benefit from a separate professional status, protected by business secrecy – and bankers who turn out to be financial illiterates."
