Nicolas Sarkozy's lawyers concluded on Tuesday, April 8, the lengthy trial concerning allegations of Libyan funding for the 2007 French presidential election, which began on January 6. The former president's family attended to listen, including his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, two of his sons, and members of his ever-present staff. The courtroom was packed. Over the course of five hours, lawyers from the Darrois law firm − one of the largest business law firms in France, with 84 lawyers and a turnover exceeding 100 million euros − delivered their defense.

Jean-Michel Darrois, 77, the founder of the firm, spoke first, demonstrating that judicial eloquence is not a prerequisite in business law. He once again raised the issue of the tribunal's incompetence. As his client had served as interior minister and then as president of the Republic, he could only be judged by the Cour de justice de la République – a question already settled on September 24, 2020, by the investigating chamber.

He emphasized a "fragile investigation," where the investigative judges engaged in "conflations" to give it a "sulfurous coloration." "There is not the slightest material element, one cannot assert bribery," said the lawyer. "It is the prosecution's role to demonstrate this, one cannot deduce a defendant's guilt from a hypothesis, even if plausible." He went through the "bundle of clues" from the Parquet National Financier (PNF), accusing it of "wanting to tarnish Nicolas Sarkozy" and judged these clues, albeit serious, neither precise nor consistent, if they could even be called clues.

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