Overview
- Families of the 1989 UTA DC‑10 bombing, appearing as civil parties, opened their pleadings Tuesday with sharp attacks on Nicolas Sarkozy’s denials in the appeal over alleged Libyan funding.
- Libyan authorities’ lawyers on Wednesday asked the court for €10 million in damages, pointing to two transfers in January and November 2006 from Libya’s treasury and intelligence to an account held by intermediary Ziad Takieddine.
- The damages claim says those transfers were diverted public funds meant to secretly bankroll the 2007 campaign under a corrupt pact, a claim Sarkozy rejects while noting investigators found no Libyan money in his official campaign accounts.
- Strains inside the defense grew after former top aide Claude Guéant sent letters describing a July 2007 dinner where Muammar Gaddafi raised concerns about Abdallah Senoussi and said Sarkozy told him to “see to it,” which Guéant says led to no action.
- The case now moves to the prosecution’s formal request next week in an appeal that follows Sarkozy’s first‑instance conviction to five years in prison, with outcomes that could affect Libya’s damages bid and the victims’ moral claims.