FRENCH ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in jail, two of them suspended, for corruption. He was convicted of trying to bribe a judge in 2014 by suggesting he could secure a prestigious job for him in return for information.
Sarkozy, 66, is the first former French president to get a custodial sentence. In the ruling, Judge Christine Mée said the conservative politician ‘knew what he was doing was wrong’, adding that his actions and those of his lawyer had given the public ‘a very bad image of justice’.
The crimes were specified as influence-peddling and violation of professional secrecy. Sarkozi is to appeal. He served one five-year term as president from 2007. He adopted tough anti-immigration policies and sought to reform France’s economy by attacking workers’ living standards and jobs during a presidency overshadowed by the global financial crisis.
However, he is still to pay for his greatest crime. He is notorious for his partnerhip with the then UK premier David Cameron to lead the struggle of the imperialist powers to overthrow the government of Colonel Gadaffi in Libya in 2011, to return Libya to the Middle Ages, while grabbing its oil resources.
British SAS troops led the storming of the capital, Tripoli, while the RAF flew hundreds of bombing missions in this demonstration of ‘regime change’.
Gadaffi was seriously wounded in a French air strike, was captured by the UK and France’s Islamist allies, and hacked to death, with his body displayed on a convoy of vehicles.
The Anglo-French invasion transformed Libya from a country where the oil wealth was shared out amongst the people – who enjoyed great prosperity, and which provided jobs for hundreds of thousands of Africans – to a heap of rubble. Its people were driven to try to escape by risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean into Europe.
The Islamists repaid Cameron for his generous aid by blowing up the Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017 while it was packed with youth, 23 of whom were killed and hundreds wounded. Similar atrocities were carried out in France.
Meanwhile, Sarkozi and Cameron celebrated Gadaffi’s butchering and planned to do the same to Syria, with Libyan mercenaries being transferred to Syria to deal with President Assad.
On 15 Septemer 2011, thousands of Libyan Islamists gave Sarkozi and Cameron a hero’s welcome in Benghazi to celebrate the murder of Gadaffi. ‘It is great to be in free Libya,’ Cameron said, adding: ‘Colonel Gadaffi said he would hunt you down like rats but you showed the courage of lions.’
The two leaders pledged support for the Islamist interim authorities, the NTC (National Transitional Council). Shouting to make himself heard above the roar of welcome, a deluded Cameron told his audience: ‘Your friends in Britain and France will stand with you as you build your country and build your democracy for the future.’
Sarkozy plunged into the crowd, reaching across his bodyguards to shake the hands of waiting Libyans, many of them waving French flags. Earlier, Cameron praised the NTC for the way it had established control over the country, but warned that the ‘hardest part’ was still to come.
Both he and Sarkozy said NATO would continue its mission under a UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians until the last remnants of pro-Gadaffi forces were defeated. Britain and France were at the forefront of the NATO operation in Libya. ‘The message, I think, to Gadaffi and all those holding arms on his behalf is: it is over. Give up. The mercenaries should go home,’ Cameron told a news conference in Tripoli.
NTC chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil thanked them for taking ‘brave positions’ during the Libyan uprising. ‘They showed us political, economic and military support which helped the rebels establish a state, and we thank France and the UK for that,’ he said.
Sarkozy said France’s focus was on consolidating the position of the NTC and pursuing the last remnants of the Gadaffi regime, rather than focusing on economic deals or reconstruction contracts. Libya is now in ruins thanks to the two crusaders, while the UK suffered the Manchester bombing!
Sarkozy faces jail for corruption at home, while Cameron was dealt with by the British people when he was forced to resign after losing the EU referendum. Britain and France are now at the crossroads with both economies facing bankruptcy and massive attacks taking place on French and UK workers.
Now is the time for the workers of Europe to rise up to bring down the EU with socialist revolutions and replace it with the United Socialist States of Europe. One of their first tasks will be to assist the Libyan people to restore the Libyan economy and Libyan living standards and to financially compensate Libya for the imperialist assault led by Cameron and Sarkozy.
