The appeal trial over alleged Libyan funding of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign – which opened on Monday in Paris – centres on claims that funds were tied to lifting an arrest warrant for a Libyan agent responsible for the 1989 bombing of a UTA DC-10 aircraft. The sister of one of the victims spoke to RFI about Sarkozy's media response following his conviction, and what they expect from the trial.
In 1989, 170 people of 17 nationalities – including 53 French citizens – were killed when a UTA airliner, travelling from Brazzaville to Paris, exploded over the Ténéré Desert in Niger. There were no survivors.
The attack was attributed to Libyan intelligence operatives linked to Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Abduallah Sanussi was one of six Libyan agents convicted in absentia in 1999 and handed life sentences.
In 2025, Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiracy over allegedly accepting €50 million in campaign funds from Gaddafi's regime in 2005, in exchange for authorising his aides to review Sanoussi's international arrest warrant
Sarkozy received a five-year prison sentence (three years suspended), although he served only 20 days before conditional release pending appeal.
The former president denies the charges of criminal conspiracy and has consistently maintained that the accusations stem from a political plot by Gaddafi's associates, as revenge for his role in the 2011 Libya intervention.
Families of the victims of the bombing are testifying at the appeal trial, which began on 16 March.
Danièle Klein, who lost her brother in the attack and was a civil party in the first trial, spoke to RFI.
RFI: How are you approaching this second trial?
Danièle Klein: We're feeling better prepared, but also more angry. We know it will be another ordeal – especially as we heard things that unsettled us after the first trial.
Once the verdict and sentences had been delivered, we thought there would be a pause from all sides. But Nicolas Sarkozy’s communication swept that aside. He was very aggressive in his untimely and unrelenting media interventions. All his supporters came out to defend him and occupied the media space, to the point where we had no room to explain why we were at this trial.
We felt he wanted a fight, attacking the civil parties, the judges and the judicial institution. For us, it was very aggressive.
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RFI: You weren't expecting such a reaction?
Frankly, no. We probably underestimated it. It was surprising because, when the judgment was read out in court, Nicolas Sarkozy seemed to have accepted the sentence and was respectful towards the magistrates.
He left the courtroom, we went out after him, the door closed – and a few minutes later we heard him shouting, saying it was a justiciary of hatred and that France was being attacked. His remarks completely contradicted the stance he'd taken three minutes earlier.
It was so hard to hear that it drove some of the [family members of the] victims of [the crash] to take medication for several days because they could no longer sleep.
His remarks didn't reflect the calm atmosphere of the hearings.
RFI: In December 2025, the former president published a diary of his time behind bars, Le journal d’un prisonnier. What was your reaction?
It's an understatement to say we were shocked. He devotes two pages to us in his book. Basically, he explains that the victims of the DC-10 crash have no place at this trial – that it's not the attack that's being judged. He says we are ungrateful, because he was the only president of the Republic to receive us at the Élysée when Muammar Gaddafi visited France in December 2007.
Yes, he did receive us – I was there. But if he agreed to meet us, it was because Gaddafi was in Paris and we were causing a bit of disruption to oppose his visit.
What also shocks us in the book is that he dared to talk about the [$170 million] compensation that families negotiated with the Libyans. Basically, he says that since we engaged with the Libyans, he does not see why he could not do the same. It's a way of saying that, ultimately, the Libyans are respectable – proven by the fact the families of the DC-10 negotiated with them. That is, once again, a complete distortion of the truth.
Nicolas Sarkozy may repeat that he respects us, but in reality he has understood nothing about our presence and our status as civil parties in this trial. It's our right. We fully belong at this hearing. And Nicolas Sarkozy is not a victim in this case. We are the primary victims in this story.
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RFI: Do you nonetheless feel the first trial provided some comfort?
Of course, because we were recognised as victims. For us, that was unexpected. We came to this trial without illusions, telling ourselves that if we were not recognised, at least we would have tried.
Until the judgment, you don't know whether your status as a civil party will be deemed admissible or not. So there was suspense right to the end.
It was all the more of a relief because we didn't testify at the 1999 trial for the DC-10 attack. Victims were not heard as they are today, it wasn't part of the culture at the time. And the trial was wrapped up in two days.
The paradox is that it took a financial corruption trial to allow victims of terrorism to be heard. It is incongruous, but in this case corruption and terrorism have gone hand in hand.
RFI: This is an argument put forward by the defence to explain why victims have no place in this trial...
That is absolutely the argument Nicolas Sarkozy repeats in his book. He says: "I have nothing to do with the DC-10 attack." But he takes us for fools. We understand perfectly well that this is not what is being judged.
However, the shadow of this attack and of Abdallah Senoussi floods the Libyan case. It comes up all the time.
In the first trial, we understood that there had been a deal – and that this Libyan money did not come without something in return. The counterpart was the promise to lift the international arrest warrant against Abdallah Senoussi, who still lives quietly in Libya today.
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RFI: Do you intend to give evidence again at this trial and, if so, what will you say?
Of course I intend to testify again. And unlike the first time, all the [families of the] victims of the DC-10 crash intend to do so. We all agree that we will speak about the relatives we lost.
As far as I am concerned, the media and Nicolas Sarkozy’s words caused me great pain, so I will probably want to return to that.
It's important that we testify again, because we realised during the first trial that our words shifted things. That's what we were told. Our statements were full of emotion, and I think the court was sensitive to that.
It also affected Nicolas Sarkozy’s defence, which was dealt an unexpected blow on hearing testimonies from ordinary citizens.
This article was adapted from the original version in French by Baptiste Coulon.
