Monday March 1, the sarkozysts will hold their breath.
It is on this day that the Paris court will rule in the so-called "eavesdropping" case on the fate of their champion, prosecuted for corruption and influence peddling.
The prosecution requested four years' imprisonment, two of which were suspended.
A decision that the former president himself expects "without excitement or excitement," confides his entourage.
"I would be surprised if he was not relaxed, I wait for things with serenity", estimates the vice-president (LR) of Ile-de-France Frédéric Péchenard, former director general of the national police and man of confidence of the former head of state.
Reading the reports of the trial in the press, which pointed to the absence of tangible evidence in the prosecution, reassured him.
“Nicolas Sarkozy had a phone under a false name.
We may find that ridiculous but what is illegal?
Who other than Nicolas Sarkozy would have been prosecuted in this kind of case?
“Questions the same for whom the“ corruption pact ”between the former President of the Republic and the former high magistrate Gilbert Azibert could not be demonstrated.
"A very political justice"
Since the start of the affair, Nicolas Sarkozy 's troops have joined forces with him to denounce a prosecution led by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), created by François Hollande in the wake of the Cahuzac affair.
"This PNF is a coup d'etat Holland has turned against his enemies," still squeals a faithful of the rue de Miromesnil.
The front page of this week's point on "the twisted blows of a very political justice" did not calm those of the Sarkozysts who read the file also pointing to internal rivalries in the judiciary.
PODCAST. Listening to Nicolas Sarkozy at his trial: the account of the Paul Bismuth affair (Part 1)
"If what Le Point says is true, it deserves a commission of inquiry", loose the senator of Paris, Pierre Charon, who denounces an institution in which the magistrates "either self-protect or inter- kill ”.
An administrative investigation, the conclusions of which are imminent, has already been opened against three magistrates of the PNF, including its former boss Eliane Houlette.
It aims to shed light on their roles in the secret investigations, with phone calls, carried out by the PNF between 2014 and 2019 in order to identify the mole who could have informed Nicolas Sarkozy that he was tapped.
If the sarkozysts have a hard tooth against the PNF, they praise more judge Christine Mée, who chaired the trial before the 32nd correctional chamber.
"If Sarkozy is relaxed, that atmosphere Bygmalion", crosses the fingers a friend of the former head of state.
Because relax or not, Nicolas Sarkozy will have to face a second legal test from March 17, where he will appear for having exceeded his campaign spending limit in 2012 as part of the Bygmalion trial.
Political Newsletter
Our analyzes and indiscretions on power
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
"If his lawyer Thierry Herzog
(Editor's note: also prosecuted for the wiretapping case)
is cleared, it will be easier for him to take back the dress and defend him in Bygmalion," anticipates a relative.
So many close hurdles necessary to cross for Nicolas Sarkozy if he aspires one day, as some on the right hope, to pose as a political recourse.
