Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy left the courthouse today after an appeals court in France upheld a three-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, for his involvement in
corruption and influence peddling. The court also ordered Sarkozy to serve one year of detention at home with an electronic bracelet and barred him from holding public office for three years. These charges stemmed from Sarkozy's attempts to obtain favors from a judge through wiretapped conversations.
This ruling makes Sarkozy the first French president since the postwar era to be sentenced to jail. While the 68-year-old former leader left the courtroom without making any comment, his lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, announced plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Cassation, the highest appeals court in France. Laffont stated, "Sarkozy is innocent... We will not give up this fight."
Sarkozy's legal troubles began after his term as president ended in 2012. In March 2021, a court found him and his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, guilty of forming a "corruption pact" with judge Gilbert Azibert in order to acquire and exchange information related to a legal investigation. The wiretapped conversations on Sarkozy's official and unofficial phone lines, particularly those conducted through the pseudonym "Paul Bismuth," served as key evidence in the corruption trial.
Despite contesting the accusations and filing an immediate appeal, Sarkozy's conversations with Herzog were played in court and played a significant role in the appeals court's decision today. The court also upheld the same sentences for Herzog and Azibert while imposing a three-year ban on Sarkozy's lawyer from practicing law.
Apart from the wiretapping case, Sarkozy faces other legal challenges. In November 2023, he will be retried on appeal in the Bygmalion case, where he was initially sentenced to one year in prison. This case revolves around allegations that Sarkozy's team exceeded the legal spending limit during his 2012 re-election campaign, using fraudulent billing from a public relations firm called Bygmalion. Sarkozy denies any wrongdoing in this matter.
Furthermore, French prosecutors have recently requested a new trial for Sarkozy and 12 others over allegations of Libyan financing in his 2007 election campaign. The prosecutors accuse Sarkozy of corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealing the embezzlement of public funds. However, the final decision on whether to proceed with this trial lies with the investigating magistrates.
Despite these legal challenges, Sarkozy remains influential and popular on the right side of French politics and maintains a close relationship with incumbent President Emmanuel Macron. Prior to Sarkozy, the only French leader convicted in a criminal trial was his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who received a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption related to a fictitious jobs scandal during his time as Paris mayor. Photo by Richard Pichet, Wikimedia commons.