Last modification: 08/10/09
 -  Clearstream trial - Dominique de Villepin - Nicolas Sarkozy
 
France’s ‘trial of the decade’
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The Clearstream scandal has embroiled some of France’s top politicians, judges, spies, journalists and defence contractors. After years of plot twists and turns, the climax may be drawing near. But will the truth finally emerge?
The complications of the Clearstream affair threaten to obscure the historic dimensions of a case that has seen a former French prime minister stand accused of trying to wreck the political career of a competitor in a tale of political rivalry of Shakespearean proportions. At heart, Clearstream is an alleged smear campaign by a former French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, against his political arch-foe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy. As well as providing a glimpse into the prickly world of political ambitions and egos, it also reveals a murky corner where French intelligence, defence and commerce meet.

  • CLEARSTREAM AFFAIR
    Who’s who in France’s ‘trial of the decade’
    The Clearstream scandal has the dimensions of a political potboiler, consisting of high-profile figures from France’s executive and judicial branches, as well as the business and intelligence communities. FRANCE 24 looks at the main players.
  • FRANCE
    How a finance trial turned into a major political scandal
    The Clearstream trial gets under way on September 21. FRANCE 24 takes a look back on the case which started off as a high-profile financial trial but turned into a murky political scandal.
  • FRANCE
    From Ben Barka to Elf, justice turns a blind eye to political elites
    The Clearstream trial now making its way through the courts is just the latest of many high-profile scandals that have plagued France's political elite in past decades. But justice often seems blind when it comes to prosecuting French officials.
  • Reporter's notebook
    Backstage at the Clearstream trial
    FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent is one of many journalists who have descended upon the Paris criminal court to cover the Clearstream trial. Read more about the proceedings both in front of and behind the camera.

Related links

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    De Villepin fights back after damning testimony by top spy
    Former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin claimed that "history showed" that he never dealt "underhand blows" against President Nicolas Sarkozy after a top French spy linked him to a smear campaign targeting his political rival.
  • CLEARSTREAM TRIAL
    De Villepin, former top spy face off over contradictory testimony
    Former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (pictured) and General Philippe Rondot, a former intelligence official, stuck to their scripts on Wednesday in an eagerly awaited courtroom showdown at France's "trial of the decade".
  • CLEARSTREAM
    French judge says he received controversial lists ‘in good faith’
    In his testimony before the Clearstream trial, French Judge Renaud van Ruymbeke said he received the falsified lists which lie at the heart of France’s “trial of the decade” in “good faith”.
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    General Philippe Rondot (pictured), whose infamous notebook is the central piece of evidence in the Clearstream trial, has contradicted former PM Dominique de Villepin's claim that he had no knowledge of forged Clearstream client lists.
  • CLEARSTREAM
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    Former French PM Dominique de Villepin testified in a Paris court on Wednesday that he knew nothing of the Clearstream affair before a January 9, 2004 meeting at the Foreign Ministry and that Sarkozy's name "never came up."
  • CLEARSTREAM
    De Villepin appears in court on smear charges
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  • THE WEEK IN FRANCE
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  • CLEARSTREAM
    Defendants trade accusations over fraudulent list
    Computer expert Imad Lahoud and his former boss Jean-Louis Gergorin (pictured) return to court Tuesday after trading accusations over who took the initiative of forging a list of names at the heart of the Clearstream trial.
  • CLEARSTREAM
    Defendant admits adding Sarkozy to bribes list
    On day two of the Clearstream trial, defendant Imad Lahoud (photo left) told the Paris criminal court that he added President Nicolas Sarkozy's name to a fake list of people taking bribes, at the request of Jean-Louis Gergorin (photo right).
  • CLEARSTREAM
    Alleged document falsifiers give evidence
    Imad Lahoud and Jean-Louis Gergorin (pictured), the two men suspected of faking the Clearstream list to include Nicolas Sarkozy's name, give evidence Wednesday in France’s "trial of the decade."
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    Journalist who set ball rolling gives evidence
    Denis Robert (pictured), the journalist who lit the touchpaper that ignited the Clearstream bomb, gives evidence Tuesday in a trial that has brought to a head a bitter rivalry between a former prime minister and France's current president.
  • CLEARSTREAM
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    A trial pitting President Nicolas Sarkozy against his arch rival, former PM Dominique de Villepin, opened on Monday amid questions of whether de Villepin can get a fair trial with the sitting president as a plaintiff.
  • FRANCE
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    The Clearstream trial, which opens in Paris on Monday, touches the heart of France's political establishment and senior figures in French industry and the secret services. We throw light on a murky affair behind France's "trial of the decade".
  • CLEARSTREAM
    Showdown between Sarkozy and former PM opens in Paris court
    The climax of a political scandal that pits President Nicolas Sarkozy (right) against his arch rival, former PM Dominique de Villepin, comes to a head with the opening on Monday of what has been labelled France's "trial of the decade".
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  • CLEARSTREAM AFFAIR
    De Villepin under fire over smear scandal
    Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, along with four other suspects, go on trial Monday in the murky Clearstream affair. De Villepin faces charges of “complicity” in a plot to smear his rival, Nicolas Sarkozy.
  • FRANCE
    Ex-PM accused of plotting smear campaign against Sarkozy
    A key defendant in the upcoming Clearstream trial in France has accused former prime minister Dominique de Villepin of masterminding a smear campaign against Nicolas Sarkozy when both top politicians were seen as presidential rivals.
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