THE rioting is over but another hurdle now stands in the path of Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and rising French political star: he has been accused of censorship after effectively banning a biography of Cecilia, his estranged wife.

Sarkozy, a tough and controversial politician who aspires to become France’s next president, has attracted the scorn of political opponents for pressurising the publisher into withdrawing Cecilia Sarkozy, Between Heart and Reason. It includes unpublished details of Sarkozy’s already well-publicised split from his wife.

Valérie Domain, the author, attacked the minister this weekend as a dictatorial “Napoleon figure” who had abused his power by blocking her book. Its launch was scheduled for this Thursday and 25,000 copies had already been printed.

A spokeswoman for the publisher, First, said the book would be pulped, linking the decision to the state of emergency imposed on parts of France in the worst civil unrest since the student riots of 1968.

Domain called that “ridiculous” and said the book had nothing to do with national security. She has consulted lawyers.

“This type of censorship is unacceptable in a democracy,” she said in an interview, vowing to find another publisher. “If Mr Sarkozy or his wife have a problem with this book, why did they not go through the courts?” According to a source familiar with the manuscript, it describes arduous efforts by Sarkozy, 50 — including telephone calls each day — to win back Cecilia, 47, his former chief adviser and a key component of his quest for presidential power.

Sarkozy’s “American-style” campaigning had promoted Cecilia as the glamorous partner in a potential “first family”. French newspapers used this to justify breaking their taboo on covering politicians’ private lives when she left him for Richard Attias, a 49-year-old events organiser, last spring.

She was said to have become smitten with Attias after meeting him a year ago at an event he staged to celebrate Sarkozy’s appointment as president of the centre-right Union for a Presidential Majority (UMP) party.

Domain’s book apparently quotes Cecilia describing her encounter with Attias as a mutual coup de coeur, which suggests love at first sight.

Sarkozy was infuriated by publication in August of photographs of the couple holding hands in a Paris restaurant and articles saying they had spent the summer together. The conjugal crisis was the first sign of his vulnerability and appeared, for a while at least, to have thrown him off balance. However, neither his marital woes nor two weeks of rioting by youths in immigrant suburbs appear to have dampened the public’s affection for the conservative workaholic who for the past three years has been in open rebellion against President Jacques Chirac.

An opinion poll last week gave Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, an approval rating of 63% — up from 52% in October — compared with 50% for Dominique de Villepin, his chief rival for the party’s nomination as presidential candidate in 2007.

Charges of censorship, however, will not impress a country that likes to consider itself a champion of literary freedom.

The book was likely to have offended Sarkozy with suggestions that he had returned to government as interior minister after a reshuffle in May as part of a campaign to win back Cecilia. She became disaffected after her husband’s loss of ministerial status.

Just as annoying for him is the suggestion made by Domain that he began a relationship with a political journalist from Le Figaro newspaper for the same reason — to help win back Cecilia by making her jealous.

It may have worked. According to Domain’s book Cecilia, apparently feeling she had been replaced rather quickly in the minister’s affections, developed doubts over whether she had done the right thing by running off with Attias.

She may be considering a reconciliation with Sarkozy after his continuing professions of love for her; and having cooperated with Domain, Cecilia appeared to have developed cold feet about the project. She had raised objections to the two chapters dealing with the marital break-up, saying they were “too definitive”, according to Domain.

It was apparently Cecilia who drew her husband’s attention to the book and urged him to intervene. He did.

Vincent Barbare, head of First publishing, was summoned to a meeting in Sarkozy’s office at the interior ministry on November 9, at the height of the rioting. Barbare emerged telling Domain that the book could not be published. He cited the state of emergency.

“I was outraged,” said Domain. “It’s the sort of thing that happens in banana republics.

“This book must come out. Otherwise it would set a dangerous precedent. After the book has appeared, if Mr and Mrs Sarkozy feel there has been an attack on their privacy they can pursue it in court.”

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