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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy loses appeal in corruption case

Politiko 2023-05-17 12:01:49

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy loses appeal in corruption case

A Paris court upheld a three-year prison sentence for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on corruption charges. The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed a 2021 first-degree sentence of three years in prison: two of which will be suspended while one will be served under house arrest, wearing an electronic bracelet.

The decision is unprecedented for a former French president. Sarkozy will also be banned from running for public office for three years.

Sarkozy will appeal Wednesday's decision to France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, French media reported.

The former conservative heavyweight, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, was convicted after offering a judge a plum job in exchange for confidential information about another trial he was facing. His lawyer Thierry Herzog, one of France's most famous criminal lawyers, and judge Gilbert Azibert handed down the same three-year sentence at the time.

The corruption allegations against the former president surfaced after investigators intercepted conversations between Sarkozy and Herzog while looking into allegations of Libyan financing of Sarkozy's 2007 campaign.

The two discussed contacting Gilbert Azibert, a magistrate at the Court of Cassation, to try to get information about a separate investigation into whether the former president had received donations from L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

At the same time, Sarkozy is also facing other criminal proceedings.

In 2021, he was sentenced to a year under house arrest for illegal campaign financing – the sentence is also suspended after Sarkozy appealed it to the Paris Court of Appeal, which will rule on that case later this year.

Sarkozy could also face a third criminal trial after a French prosecutor last week asked judges to bring him before a criminal court, accusing him of receiving illegal Libyan financing for his 2007 election campaign.

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