French justice authorities will appeal the judgment clearing former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of involvement in a plot to smear his former rival Nicolas Sarkozy, the Paris state prosecutor said on Friday.
The decision opens the way to a second episode of the so-called 'Clearstream trial', in which Villepin was accused of trying to sabotage Sarkozy's bid to win the presidency in 2007.
Speaking minutes after Paris prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin said there would be a second trial either at the end of this year or the start of 2011, Villepin launched a bitter attack on Sarkozy, whom he accused of pursuing a vendetta.
'This decision is a political decision and what it shows is that Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the Republic, prefers to continue in his relentlessness and hatred instead of assuming the responsibilities of his office,' Villepin told BFM television.
Villepin, who became prime minister in 2005, had been accused of being part of a conspiracy to link Sarkozy to a corruption probe as the two men angled to succeed the ageing Chirac.
Sarkozy, who was a civil plaintiff in the case, said on Thursday that he would not be launching an appeal on his own account. He has no authority to direct the actions of the prosecutor.
The former prime minister, who has never held elected office, said on Thursday that he hoped to return to active political life, holding out the prospect of a rival to Sarkozy on the centre-right in the 2012 presidential campaign.
