Political and financial crime is one of the French Republic’s best-kept secrets. It poisons the state quietly, to the detriment of the citizens who have to pay the price. That is why the judgement handed down on September 25th in the Libyan funding affair involving former president Nicolas Sarkozy and other high-profile defendants is of vital importance, writes Mediapart’s publishing editor in this op-ed article.
FormerFormer top-level state representatives, “acts of the utmost seriousness” and a series of judicial punishments: by sentencing Nicolas Sarkozy and his former right-hand men Claude Guéant and Brice Hortefeux on Thursday - alongside their accomplices Alexandre Djouhri, Wahib Nacer, Khalid Bugshan and Bashir Saleh – the Paris courts brought into the open practices that are unacceptable in a state operating under the rule of law. Practices which came close to staying buried in the dark recesses of the Republic.
