French ex-editor says Sarkozy behind his sacking

PARIS, Nov 16 (Reuters) A French former magazine editor, fired after he published pictures of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's wife with her lover, said in comments published today the presidential hopeful was involved in his sacking.

Staff at glossy magazine Paris Match went on strike after editor Alain Genestar was sacked in June, saying he was fired for a front-page splash of Cecilia Sarkozy in New York with a man other than her husband.

Sarkozy is a close friend of businessman Arnaud Lagardere, head of Hachette Filipacchi Medias, which owns Paris Match, but has said he bore no responsibility for the decision to fire Genestar.

Genestar did not say publicly at the time why he was sacked, but in an interview with French daily Le Monde he accused Sarkozy of lying about his role in the newsroom drama.

''In a large, free and democratic country such as ours, it is inconceivable that an interior minister could be behind the firing of a journalist,'' Genestar was quoted as saying.

''I would therefore like to say that the interior minister, when he says he had nothing to do with my sacking, he is lying,'' Genestar added.

Sarkozy's spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Sarkozy, conservative frontrunner in France's presidential election next year, had already confessed that his marriage was in trouble when the pictures were published but was angry because the private lives of French public figures have traditionally been ring-fenced from the media.

The Sarkozys have since got back together and Paris Match featured pictures of the happy couple shortly afterwards. Many reporters feel they are a fair target because they previously openly presented themselves as a perfect political couple.

A year ago, Sarkozy blocked publication of a book about his estranged wife to try to protect their privacy.

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