Novelties on the french Clearstream affair

New allegations on the line between de Villepin and Sarkozy before the Magistrates' court or should we say "The justice is blind."

A bailiff appeared, on Monday, September 28th on the Elysee, in order to deliver - on behalf of Nagy-Bocsa to Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the Republic, residing at Elysee, 55 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris - summons for making an appearance before the county court of Paris, for infringement on the presumption of innocence.

The deposit of this complaint had been announced, on Wednesday, September 23rd, by the lawyers of Dominique de Villepin, after the broadcasting on TF1 and France 2, comments of the president of the Republic, on the affair Clearstream: - after two years of investigation, two independent judges have come to a conclusion that the culprits must be forwarded to the magistrates' court. -

According to the text of the allegations , these comments represent " infringement so blatant as well as extremely grave - in Mr. de Villepin's presumption of innocence, who has been sent before the magistrates' court for complicity of slanderous termination, complicity in usage of forgeries, breach of trust and theft.

Reminding that, according to the article 9 of the Declaration of human rights, - Every man is presumed innocent until declared guilty -, the defence of Mr. de Villepin observes that Mr Sarkozy's comments represent - the rough assertion of the fault of the accused in the affair Clearstream - and this assertion - inevitably concerns Mr. de Villepin. -

In a continuation of the Head of State declaration among other things one should also bear in mind that the - the judges will decide who commited it, why someone did it, who are the operators and who are the financiers - who confirmed and "amplified" this infringement. - Mr. de Villepin's lawyers add that the hour of distribution broadcasting - the television news at 8 pm - and the M.Sarkozy's office, should serve as a guarantee of the independence of the judical system, and sure will - confer on this infringement an exceptional intensity -.

The judicial outcome of this initiative is already known because of the penal immunity from which benefits the Head of State, which furthermore nullifies any pursuit against him during the duration of his mandate. As it was the case with a similar procedure instituted by Yvan Colonna, the court can only notify the immunity and dismiss the examination of this complaint at earliest one month after the cessation of the Mr Sarkozy's presidential mandate.

But the initiative of Mr. de Villepin's lawyers is above all intended to feed the debate on the problem that the institution of civil action proceedings of the Head of State, in breaking of the principle of the equality before the courts, according to them. After the divisions aroused by the presidential comments within the majority, in particular during the parliamentary days of the UMP in Touquet, on Thursday and Friday, Mr Sarkozy received François Fillon's support. Questioned in the Sunday Newspaper, Prime Minister indicated: - In this affair, there is a main victim, a president of the Republic. And we do not have to transform the victims into culprits. -

The Minister of the Economy and the Financing, Christine Lagarde, observed, for her part, during the broadcast "Le grand jury RTL-Le Figaro-LCI": - I was a lawyer. The proverb says that when the politics enters a court, the justice sleeps. - She did not specify at whom of her two colleagues lawyers - Mr. de Villepin, accused, or Mr Sarkozy, plaintiff - this proverb aimed.