Prosecutors want to put Nicolas Sarkozy behind bars for two years

Former French president asks at corruption trial: 'What did I do to deserve this?'

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives for a hearing at his trial on corruption charges at a Paris courthouse. AFP

Prosecutors are calling for former French president Nicolas Sarkozy to be jailed for two years at the end of his landmark corruption trial.

Mr Sarkozy, 65, is accused of trying to bribe a judge with a plum retirement job in Monaco in exchange for information on an inquiry into his campaign finances.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Mr Sarkozy should be handed a four-year prison term, of which he should serve two.

They are asking for the same punishment for Mr Sarkozy’s lawyer and co-defendant Thierry Herzog, as well as for the judge, Gilbert Azibert.

They also said Mr Herzog should be disbarred for five years.

Mr Sarkozy is France’s first modern head of state to appear in the dock.

"The facts would not have occurred if a former president, as well as a lawyer, had kept in mind the magnitude, the responsibility and the duties of his office," prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon told the court.

He said the "devastating effects of this affair strike at the values of the Republic".  It had damaged the judicial institution, the legal profession and the image of the presidency, he said.

Mr Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, told the court on Monday that he "never committed the slightest act of corruption" and vowed to clear his name.

The corruption and influence-peddling charges – among several legal cases against him – carry a maximum sentence of 10 years and a fine of €1 million ($1.2m).

Defending himself in court for the first time on Monday, Mr Sarkozy said he relished the prospect of a fair hearing after being "dragged through the mud for six years. What did I do to deserve this?"

Mr Sarkozy, who wore a dark suit and a surgical mask, vowed to "go all the way for the truth". The courtroom was as packed as coronavirus restrictions would permit.

Prosecutors say he and Mr Herzog tried to bribe Mr Azibert in return for information on an inquiry into claims Mr Sarkozy had received illicit payments from the late L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt during his 2007 presidential campaign.

The state's case is based on wiretaps of conversations between Mr Herzog and Mr Sarkozy, something the former president denounced during his address to the court.

On Tuesday, the prosecutors accused Mr Sarkozy of covering up the attempt to infiltrate the court via "the use of secret telephone lines".

Prosecutor Celine Guillet said it had been established "with certainty" that Mr Azibert transmitted confidential information about the Bettencourt case on an unofficial line to his friend Mr Herzog.

One conversation overwhelmingly showed that Mr Sarkozy had promised to intervene to get Mr Azibert the Monaco post, she said.

Mr Sarkozy's lawyer Jacqueline Laffont lashed out at "the flaws, the inexistence and the emptiness" of the prosecutor's accusations.

Mr Azibert was a senior adviser at France's highest appeals court at the time – he did not get the job in Monaco.

Mr Sarkozy, meanwhile, was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Bettencourt affair but still faces several legal challenges.

He is charged over allegations that he received millions of euros in funding from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to his 2007 election campaign, and he is also accused of fraudulent overspending on his failed 2012 re-election bid.

Mr Sarkozy's former interior minister Brice Hortefeux was charged on Tuesday for "illegal campaign funding and criminal association" in the Libya case.

Only one other French president, Mr Sarkozy's political mentor Jacques Chirac, was put on trial after leaving office, but he was excused from having to attend his 2011 corruption trial because of ill health.

Mr Chirac received a two-year suspended sentence over the creation of ghost jobs at the Paris town hall that were used to fund his party when he was the city's mayor.