A group of lawyers has taken legal action in France to request an ethics investigation into their colleague and former head of state, Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing that his final convictions undermine "the essential principles" of the profession.

Nine people are asking the question: can a lawyer, definitively convicted by the courts as is the case for the former President of the Republic (2007-2012), still wear the robe?

Nicolas Sarkozy, a business lawyer, is definitively convicted in two cases: one year of imprisonment for corruption and influence peddling in the Elysée wiretapping case and one year of imprisonment, including six months of actual imprisonment, in the so-called Bygmalion case, for the illegal financing of his lost 2012 presidential campaign.

"No, Nicolas Sarkozy can no longer represent the profession, he no longer has the right to be a lawyer," says Jérôme Karsenti.

"We have a code of ethics which says that probity is part of our function," adds the lawyer, a member of the group that filed a complaint with the Paris public prosecutor on Tuesday, according to information from the newspaper L'Informé, confirmed to AFP on Wednesday.

"Being convicted once criminally is already a breach of ethics. To be convicted several times and for nothing to be done... really, it's appalling," Me Jérôme Giusti, another member of the collective, told AFP.

Nicolas Sarkozy, bar number R175, has been a lawyer at the Paris Bar since 1981. He has been a member for almost 40 years of the firm Claude & Sarkozy, renamed Realyze in 2020.

"The Bar President can refer the matter to the disciplinary council but also to the Attorney General's office, which transmits final criminal convictions to the Bar Association so that the latter can take disciplinary action," explains Me Christian Charrière-Bournazel, former President of the Paris Bar Association, regarding the request from his colleagues, of which he is not a party.

It is then up to the Order to decide whether or not to sanction. The range of penalties can include expulsion, although no text stipulates that a criminal conviction automatically leads to exclusion.

"The Attorney General would have taken up the matter anyway," adds the former lawyer, who believes "it is essential that Nicolas Sarkozy be able to appear with assistance during a hearing of the Disciplinary Council."

In October, after Nicolas Sarkozy's conviction in the Libyan affair, the same lawyers had already filed a complaint against their colleague for "contempt of court" after remarks by the former president declaring that he would not "bow to lies, conspiracy, insults" and to practices "so contrary to the rule of law".

However, the lawyers who filed the complaint pointed out that, according to the lawyer's code of ethics, while he enjoys "full freedom of expression (...), he must refrain from denigrating the rule of law or making general degrading remarks about justice".

Nicolas Sarkozy, sentenced in September to five years in prison in the first instance in the case of Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign, will be tried on appeal from March 16 to June 3 in Paris. He had been placed in detention before being released under judicial supervision on November 10, after 20 days in custody.