PARIS: French prosecutors will appeal against a judgment clearing former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of involvement in a plot to smear his rival Nicolas Sarkozy.
The move, announced Friday by Paris state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin, paves the way for a second round of the so-called “Clearstream trial,” in which Villepin was accused of trying to sabotage Sarkozy’s bid to win the presidency in 2007.
Villepin condemned the appeal and accused the president of pursuing a vendetta against him.
“This decision is a political decision and what it shows is that Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the Republic, prefers to continue in his relentlessness and hatred instead of assuming the responsibilities of his office,” Villepin told BFM television.
The appeal is expected to be heard at the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011, Marin said.
Villepin was accused of being part of a plot using forged documents to link Sarkozy to a corruption probe when the two men served in government together and both were angling to succeed the aging center-right president, Jacques Chirac.
Had he been found guilty, he risked an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of up to 45,000 euros ($63,180).
But after months of investigation and weeks of hearings last year, the court ruled Thursday that there was no proof of Villepin’s bad faith or involvement in a conspiracy, designating two fellow defendants as the architects of the affair.
