Victims' Lawyers Present Closing Arguments at Sarkozy Appeal Trial Over Alleged Libyan Campaign Funding

Lawyers representing 17 families of victims of the 1989 UTA Flight 772 bombing delivered plaintiffs' closing arguments on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, at the appeal trial in Paris concerning alleged Libyan funding of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign.

The arguments came one day after Nicolas Sarkozy appeared at the Paris courthouse on May 4, 2026. Vincent Ollivier and Laure Heinich, who represent the families, decried Nicolas Sarkozy's denial of a 'corrupt pact' forged with the Libyan regime.

The 1989 UTA Flight 772 bombing has been attributed to Muammar Gaddafi's Libya. Ollivier told the court there are two meanings of corruption. "There are two meanings of corruption: that of legal scholars and that of moralists.

The slow process of degradation of substance or values; a rot," he stated. The families of victims of the 1989 UTA Flight 772 bombing wanted to know if the 'rot' of corruption really existed or if it was a media invention. They hoped they were wrong and wished that Nicolas Sarkozy had not conspired to tarnish the memory of their loved ones.

The families held a 'somewhat crazy, somewhat naïve hope' that Nicolas Sarkozy's wall of silence would crack. Barring that exception, the trial had been nothing more than a 'theater of appearances, aimed more at the public opinion, and at reinforcing the image of Nicolas Sarkozy as a commander, than at convincing the court,' Ollivier said. Le Monde reported the full remarks.

The victims' families had long sought answers about whether corruption played a role in events tied to the bombing that claimed their relatives. Their lawyers channeled two months of exhaustive debate into the May 5 presentation before the Paris court.