PARIS (Reuters) – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused to answer questions as he appeared as a witness in a trial in which his former aides are accused of misusing public funds on polling contracts, BFM TV reported on Tuesday.
“As President of the Republic, I am not accountable to the court but to the French people,” BFM quoted Sarkozy as saying.
Sarkozy, who has presidential immunity in this specific case, had initially said he would not appear as a witness after being tried and convicted twice this year in separate cases.
The 66-year-old Sarkozy, was, however, ordered by a judge to appear as a witness in the trial about the opinion polls commissioned during his time as president.
Sarkozy said on Tuesday the judge’s order was “anti-constitutional” and “totally disproportionate”, BFM reported.
Sarkozy was president from 2007 until 2012. He lost presidential immunity from legal prosecution a month after he left office and has since faced investigations into alleged corruption, fraud, favouritism and campaign-funding irregularities.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, editing by Ed Osmond)
