"Defending thugs", indecency, corruption: former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012) had to face without flinching the arrows of the lawyers of relatives of victims of the UTA DC-10 bombing, on Wednesday, during the appeal trial on suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.

Although not accused of personal enrichment, Nicolas Sarkozy is suspected of having, with his collaborators Brice Hortefeux and Claude Guéant, forged a "corruption pact" with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi: hidden funds to finance his campaign, using the accounts of the deceased intermediary Ziad Takieddine, in exchange for favors.

Among these is the examination of the criminal situation of Abdallah Senoussi, the mastermind of the attack, requested by the French justice system after his conviction to life imprisonment.

Absent on Tuesday for the first day of closing arguments by the civil parties because he was unwell, according to his entourage, Nicolas Sarkozy, 71, is this time in his rightful place, in the front row of defendants before the Paris Court of Appeal. Forced into silence except to whisper a few words to one of his lawyers, he listens to Mr. Olivier Descamps deliver a scathing attack on him.

After mentioning in passing that the former head of state had "already been definitively convicted twice", the lawyer for the widow and son of Georges Raveneau, the pilot of the aircraft that crashed in Niger in September 1989 (170 dead), sets out to tell a story of "big money and betrayals".

And repeats the story, contested by Nicolas Sarkozy, of "money that helped finance an election campaign" and the "lifestyle" of some defendants.

Just as in the first trial where he was sentenced to five years in prison, Nicolas Sarkozy's denials failed to convince the victims' families on appeal. As before the lower court, Mr. Descamps denounced "a thuggish defense," even if, according to him, it was presented in a "slightly more refined" form.

There's "the boss, Mr. Sarkozy," who, faced with "questions that embarrass him," replies "I don't remember" or "the others are mistaken." Then there's the "first lieutenant," Brice Hortefeux, "straight as an arrow" in his posture of shielding his friend. And finally, "the second lieutenant," Claude Guéant. And there, "things shifted," the lawyer continues.

- "Claude, look at this" -

In two written submissions to the court in response to Nicolas Sarkozy's questioning of his integrity in court, Claude Guéant, prevented by his health from attending the trial, referred to a scene during a dinner in Tripoli in July 2007.

The former head of state, he wrote, had summoned him so that Gaddafi could repeat "the concern he had just expressed to him regarding Senussi." "Claude, see this," the president reportedly ordered.

Although Claude Guéant claimed that nothing had actually been done to pardon or amnesty Senoussi, the unprecedented anecdote broke the united front in defense.

"Nicolas Sarkozy is trying hard to cut ties" with his co-defendants, notes Claire Josserand-Schmidt for the Anticor association, who also considers "fallacious" his argument that the investigation had not established that Libyan money had actually landed in his campaign.

"The real question is whether Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, coordinated with his staff "to seal a corruption pact" with the Libyans as early as 2005.

For the relatives of the victims, it is "intolerable to hear that their political representatives (...) would have negotiated with" Senoussi, "the author of their torment, the terrorist who murdered their parents," adds Dan Hazan, who represents more than 90 relatives.

Like Me Descamps, they also criticize Nicolas Sarkozy's behavior: the "unbearable," "odious" comments after the first judgment, the "pathetic," "indecent and undignified" staging of his incarceration at La Santé prison, and his book about his twenty days of detention: "By publishing this book, did Mr. Sarkozy, the author, for a second consider the void that the victims' families might feel?"

The public prosecutor's office begins three days of hearings on Monday.