Lawyers for relatives of French victims of the UTA DC-10 bombing unleashed fierce pleadings on Tuesday in the appeal trial of the "Libyan funding" case. They targeted Nicolas Sarkozy in particular, accused of corruption. Me Vincent Ollivier denounced a "wall of silence" protecting the former president.
In the Paris appeal court trial of the "Libyan funding" case, lawyers for the civil parties began their pleadings on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Me Vincent Ollivier, alongside Me Laure Heinich representing relatives of the 54 French victims of the 1989 UTA DC-10 bombing, launched a ferocious attack on the defendants, led by Nicolas Sarkozy.
«The word 'corruption' has two meanings in French. The first, that of jurists. And the second, that of moralists, naturalists, and forensic doctors, who designate the slow process of degradation of matter or values, in other words rot», stated Me Ollivier. His clients arrived at the appeal "with a somewhat naive hope, that of seeing the omerta broken, the wall of silence meant to protect Nicolas Sarkozy crack".
Acting more like a prosecutor without needing to prove facts, the lawyer delivered a scathing indictment against the accused. The 1989 bombing, orchestrated by Libyan secret services under Abdallah Senoussi, destroyed the plane, linking the victims to the alleged corruption involving Libyan funds for Sarkozy's 2007 campaign.
