PARIS (Reuters) – Lawyers for former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin ended his defense in the libel trial Clearstream giant on Wednesday, accusing the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, of a vendetta against his client.
The state prosecutor on Tuesday urged judges Villepin deliver a sentence of 18 months suspension and a fine of 45,000 euros (67,190 dollars) for his involvement in an alleged plot to sabotage the successful campaign for president Sarkozy 2007.
Villepin, Sarkozy's political rival since the two served together in government, denies any wrongdoing and says the case has been guided by the vengeful obsession to punish President their enemies.
The case is marked with your desire, the more hysterical desire for a capricious prince, said Luc Brossolet, part of the legal team Villepin.
The hearing, which ends this week, have graced the covers for weeks, exposing a world of fratricidal hatred in the ruling center-right, so even a conservative old-guard on Wednesday described as nauseating.
Judges will retire after hearings this week to consider its verdict, and is not expected to deliver its decision until early next year.
The case dates back to 2004 when some lists, supposedly identifying hundreds of secret accounts in the Luxembourg-based financial institution Clearstream, were brought before Villepin, foreign minister at the time.
The lists, which included Sarkozy and many other members of the political and economic elite of France, proved false.
Villepin is accused of having delivered anonymously to a judge who investigating a case of corruption, hoping to implicate Sarkozy despite knowing that the list was false.
(Writing by James Mackenzie, editing by Tim Pearce Spanish)
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