Half a century after Ford announced his pardon, other countries have taken a different path, indicting former presidents and prime ministers of France, Brazil, South Korea, Israel and others on numerous crimes, including embezzlement. , corruption, election interference, and crime. bribery.
Several cases illustrate the virtues of holding the most powerful political officials accountable under the rule of law and the formidable challenges that arise in prosecuting such individuals. These former leaders can rely on a rich bully pulpit to attack the process, maintain influence, shore up support, and possibly regain power.
The United States appears poised to cross a line that Ford dared not cross, with Donald Trump set to go on trial this month as the country's first former president.
Trump's trial, scheduled to begin April 15 in New York, will be one of four criminal charges against him. These cases raise questions about the durability of the U.S. judicial system and the public's faith in democracy, especially as likely Republican presidential nominee Trump approaches a rematch with President Biden in November. It raises a wide range of questions.
“The idea that a former president, and perhaps a future president, could not only be accused, but could be convicted and sent to prison is truly extraordinary,” said William Howell, a professor of American politics at the University of Chicago. ” he said. “What this system looks like and how the American people respond will reveal the nature of our commitment to democracy.”
Mr. Trump has maintained his innocence in each criminal case. With the presidential election still months away, polls suggest that Trump's indictment has been accompanied by a surge in Republican support rather than being politically damaging.
Perhaps the most difficult challenge in prosecuting former leaders anywhere in the world is the risk of appearing overtly political in doing so, and the fact that many citizens are concerned about the fairness and impartiality of the legal system. legal analysts said this could lead to a loss of confidence in the
Autocratic rulers routinely imprison opponents on false or dubious charges, and it is up to those in power to decide who faces prosecution. In Russia, for example, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the country's fiercest critic of President Vladimir Putin, was sentenced to 30 years in prison and died in a remote penal colony in February. And in China, President Xi Jinping's biggest political opponent, Sun Zhengcai, was sentenced to life in prison on corruption charges in 2018.
Even in liberal democracies, former leaders facing investigations and criminal charges have sought to portray these incidents as weaponized political law enforcement, a move Trump and his allies have made. Trump and his allies routinely use such arguments to criticize the investigators and prosecutors who are scrutinizing him.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, has vigorously maintained his innocence in cases involving corruption and illegal campaign financing, and has fiercely criticized prosecutors and judges.
Mr. Sarkozy has previously been convicted in two cases. He was sentenced to six months in prison but remains free pending his appeal. He still faces a third case, which could go to trial next year. The case involves allegations that Sarkozy received illegal campaign funds from Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi while running for president in 2007. Colonel Gaddafi was killed in 2011.
“Mr. Sarkozy's insistence that this is political is more or less gospel to the French right,” said Robert Zaretsky, a historian and author at the University of Houston.
Zaretsky stressed that Sarkozy is less likely than Trump to attack the French government's broader “deep state” plot against him. He also said that while Mr. Sarkozy maintains influence over French conservatives, Mr. Trump is leading a more far-right movement in the United States.
In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, using Trump's nationalist uprising as a model for his political rise. Now, after being re-elected, Bolsonaro is being charged by Brazilian authorities with forging a coronavirus vaccine card before entering the United States in late 2022.
Mr Bolsonaro also faces investigation into charges that he tried to enlist Brazilian police to prevent his successor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, from taking office. On January 8, 2023, a mob of Bolsonaro supporters stormed a federal building during President Lula's inauguration, echoing the attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. Ta.
Unlike President Trump, Bolsonaro is banned from public office until 2030 due to a Superior Electoral Court ruling for false statements about the 2022 election.
“fact [the electoral court] It really means a lot to take that first step. It happened and it has passed,” said Rachel Bill Chavez, president and CEO of Inter-American Dialogue, a Western Hemisphere-focused think tank.
In some countries, it is not uncommon for former leaders to be put on trial, but it has become a common sight.
Four former South Korean presidents have been imprisoned for corruption since the 1980s. Another former president died by suicide while under investigation in 2009. Most recently, former President Park Geun-hye was impeached in 2017 and sentenced to 24 years in prison the following year on charges of bribery and abuse of power.
Analysts said South Korea's judicial system is holding up and in some ways becoming stronger, even as prosecutors foster political partisanship.
At the end of 2021, President Moon Jae-in pardoned President Park, and Park retreated to a life outside of the political spotlight. Moon was succeeded in 2022 by Yoon Seok-yeol, South Korea's attorney general who oversaw the conviction of Park and another former president, Lee Myung-bak, on charges of abuse of power.
“When President Park was impeached, an out-of-cycle presidential election was held. They did everything according to the rules. No one questioned that,” said an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Victor Cha said. “And in the last election, the margin of victory was thinner than in the United States, and the losing candidates conceded and accepted the results.”
Cha noted that South Korea's presidential terms are limited to five years, which helps protect the country from former leaders who seek to regain power as a way to avoid legal investigation.
One of America's closest allies recently saw its indicted leader return to office, with controversial results.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery while in office. His trial was marked by delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Netanyahu, who will step down from office in 2021, has slammed prosecutors' “witch hunt.” By the following year he was back in power.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his conservative allies then launched an overhaul of the country's judicial system despite the prime minister's ongoing criminal prosecution, a plan that stoked intense unrest in Israel.
“He's gotten to the point where he's trying to rig the justice system by using claims that there are conspiracy theories against him,” said Victor Menardo, a political science professor at the University of Washington.
Mr. Ford said 50 years ago that concerns about the stability of the United States were paramount when he pardoned Mr. Nixon. Mr. Ford said the law was needed to avoid “ugly passions” among voters and counteract public doubts about “the credibility of our free institutions of government.”
Howell, a professor at the University of Chicago, said Mr. Ford's pardon had planted the idea in the public's mind that prosecuting a former president was “insane.” Similarly, what happened in President Trump's criminal case could set a new precedent for future presidential actions, for better or worse, Howell said.
Trump has already vowed to retaliate politically and judicially against his rivals if he wins re-election.
“Mr. Trump said [to his followers]”'I have my revenge on you,'” said Saikrishna Prakash, a law professor at the University of Virginia. “And one way to understand that is, 'I'm going to indict all the people who indicted me.'”
