Ze Vile Pants and Sarky: Handbags at Dawn... The

Ze Vile Pants and Sarky: Handbags at Dawn... The trial continues...

France: Trial of the decade

The Guardian, Tuesday 22 September 2009

An extraordinary trial opened yesterday before the 11th chamber of the correctional tribunal of Paris yesterday. It involves two of France's biggest egos and deadliest political rivals. One has vowed to hang the other on a butcher's hook. The other refers to his old rival as "the dwarf" and accuses him of meddling in the justice system by forcing the case to trial. The former is none other than the serving French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. The latter is a former prime minister, and anti-war star of the UN debate which preceded the invasion of Iraq, Dominique de Villepin. Have these politicians taken leave of their senses to settle old scores? Of course they have.

The suicidal nature of the proceedings, however, is only one of the trial's many attractions. Top spies and businessmen are lining up to give evidence in a trial which could do to the French political class what the expenses scandal did to ours. Mr Sarkozy is one of 40 plaintiffs in a trial accusing Mr de Villepin and others of running a smear campaign to damage the former's chances of running in the 2007 presidential campaign. Three years earlier, an anonymous source wrote to an investigating judge accusing a list of politicians and businessmen of holding secret accounts at a Luxembourg bank, used for laundering kickbacks from the sale of French frigates to Taiwan. The list turned out to be fake and the bank accounts fictitious.

Mr de Villepin is accused of "defamation, use of forged documents and possession of goods obtained by theft". The case will turn on the issue of what he knew and when he knew it. The prosecution will allege that the former prime minister prompted his friend and co-accused Jean-Louis Gergorin, an executive of the defence aviation group EADS, to pass the list on to the judge, knowing it to be false. Mr de Villepin denies the charges, saying he is the victim of a grave injustice. But he also alleged on the courtroom steps yesterday that Mr Sarkozy is abusing his presidential powers. This is the first shot of a battle that could go up to the European court of human rights at Strasbourg.

Mr Sarkozy appears as a civil plaintiff in this case, while retaining immunity from prosecution as president. This means that if Mr de Villepin is cleared, he cannot countersue. Furthermore, as president, Mr Sarkozy has executive powers over judicial appointments such as magistrates and prosecutors. Hence Mr de Villepin's case that the playing field is far from level. Mr Sarkozy will have real questions to answer if the case falls, for he is playing a high-stakes game. If he wins, he will be firing a powerful warning shot at his political rivals. If he loses, he will complicate what should be a straightforward campaign for re-election.