We have different perspectives. They say that we are in an undemocratic moment, precisely because the judges have complied with the law. We are living Orwell's book 1984. (...) We are writing history directly and at great speed, reaching the range of the worst dystopias of the past, in which we have the elimination of the boundary between truth and lies. People, even in good faith, are drowning in this disgusting maelstrom in which we are told that war is peace and the force of ignorance. That’s what 1984 is all about.” These are the words of journalist Fabrice Arfi, published in the round table Le Pen, Sarkozy: au nom de la loi (Le Pen, Sarkozy: in the name of the law), organized by the independent media Mediapart. Marine Le Pen and Nicolas Sarkozy discuss the allegations of sanctions against well-known French politicians.

In the last week of March, Le Pen’s conviction and the financial prosecutor’s plea against Sarkozy were heard. The leader of the far-right RN party has been sentenced to four years in prison, two of which are Fermu, a fine of 100,000 euros and a five-year ban on running for election by the Paris Correctional Court, while the financial prosecutor has questioned against the former French president Sarkozy from 2007 to 2012, a sentence of seven years in prison, a fine of 300,000 euros and a five-year ban on running for election. Although they have been tried for two different subjects, they have great similarities: in the follow-up of the litigation carried out by the great media, in the attitude adopted by the judges towards Justice, and in the exploitation of privileges and power. We'll go ahead and look at these ingredients, and we'll see what they're accused of. Even if the mainstream media hasn’t looked at the substance too much, it’s surprising what these two well-known politicians have channeled.

On the one hand, we have Le Pen, a European Parliament whose money – EUR 4.6 million according to the judges, EUR 6.8 million according to the European Parliament – has been diverted and directed to those closest to it. Workers from the party, or better said members of the Le Pen family and their immediate family, were hired from 2004 to 2016 with public money provided by Brussels to pay for the work of MEPs’ assistants. In addition to Le Pen, 23 other party members have also been found guilty – Le Pen has collected the heaviest punishment – and the RN has also been fined €2 million – half with reversal.

On the other hand, we have Sarkozy, who is on trial for the illegal financing of the 2007 presidential campaign, because they are proof of having received millions – 50 million euros, according to an official document of the Libyan Government in 2007 – from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. According to the Financial Ombudsman, there is no doubt: There has been an "unthinkable, horrible and dirty pact of corruption" between the two leaders. In 2005, Sarkozy was appointed Minister of the Interior. Millions to monetize Sarkozy’s campaign and diplomatic advantages in return for Gaddafi: The cancellation of the international arrest warrant for Abdallah Senoussi, an oil exploitation contract for the French company Total, and trade agreements between the two peoples, including the sale of espionage material from France. But above all, the development of the relations between the two peoples and this would have led the dictator to conclude that he had "respectability" in his priority, according to the financial prosecutor. Along with Sarkozy, twelve others are on trial, including three former French ministers.

Responsibility of the media

"We're in the middle of dissociation. There's what the TV tells us and what happens in court. It’s amazing to hear ‘the dossier is empty’ here and there. Journalists who say so have never been in court, never seen them, never opened a single page of the dossier. No one who has been at the trial can say that there is an empty dossier,” says the Mediapart journalist.
These two cases were revealed by Mediapart, who carried out cutting-edge investigative journalism. Basically, believing that the lies were spreading, Sarkozy filed a complaint against this media in 2013 – which was dismissed by Mediapart’s Court of Cassation in 2019. Thirteen years later, the former president continues with the same thesis, although the work is dorphic to him, seeing the exact chronologies, documents and testimonies against him.

The shadow of the link between the French mainstream media and the right – as well as the far right – is shown in the analysis, headlines and conclusions about these two trials. In the French State, 80% of the written press, 60% of the television channels and 50% of the radio stations are in the hands of 11 billion people.Among them is the well-known promoter of the extreme right, Vincent Bolloré, who is pursuing the mission of silencing the leftist vision and spreading the ideology of the extreme right. Le système B., produced by the structure RSF Reporters Without Borders, about the risk posed by this monopoly. L´information selon Bolloré (System B. Information according to Bolloré) the short documentary is visible on the Internet.

As a result, the trials have not been followed closely and thoroughly, and once the case has been completed, the statements of the defendants and their supporters have been loudly conveyed. Let’s say, for the judgment against Le Pen, the following were disclosed: "The Legalization of Democracy" (spokesman for the Kremlin), "a declaration of war" (Matteo Salvini), "the end of French democracy" (Jordan Bardella), "the abuse of the judicial system" (Elon Musk)...

In short, it is only by looking at power and privileges that the phenomenon can be understood according to the journalist of Mediapart: “Honesty is undermined by the fact that there is a problem of Justice. Where power and money meet, the judge can distort the situation by focusing the judgment of Justice. We are in a laboratory to fabricate false information and manipulate opinions, which ultimately makes us forget the gravity of the issues on which they are based."

The systematic denial of evidence, counter-claims and lies, as well as the fabrication of false documents, have both been firmly turned away from Justice. The fact that the former President of the French State and the one who would like to be President of France in 2027 had such a stance against Justice is remarkable. In short, this is how the journalist deduces what the two trials left behind: "The liberation of the brutal words of populism against the rule of law; and in the depths, the expression of the return of privileges and the deep desire to end with equality before the law." You just have to look at the world to realize that the far right is attached to the rise to power and the dismantling of the rule of law, and, of course, they consider it "undemocratic" not to be able to do so.
This feeling is further fuelled by the fact that Le Pen has been cut off from running for election. In other words, he would not be able to run for president in 2027 – however, as he has appealed, he is still pending, but he would not be able to follow the current ruling. The RN has described this ban as scandalous and, of course, all mainstream media outlets are looking at this part of the sentence. High, there's public money theft at the base. In order to enrich those close to him and consolidate his party, the verdict has been to cut off the possibility that one of those who had been robbing millions could be found in the presidential chair. As the judge said, knowing Le Pen's position and past, there are "clear risks of relapse" that would "damage" the guarantee of democracy and public order.