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Nicolas Sarkozy He was sentenced this Monday to three years in prison, one of them firm, for corruption and influence peddling, becoming the first former French president to receive a sentence of this type.
However, the 66-year-old Sarkozy will not go to prison as his sentence to one year in prison may be commuted and the court did not order his arrest after pronouncing the verdict.
Sarkozy, president of France between 2007 and 2012, is the second ex-president to be convicted by the courts, after his predecessor and political mentor Jacques chirac in 2011 for embezzlement of public funds committed when he was mayor of Paris. But due to health problems, Chirac never appeared in court.
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Sarkozy, who tirelessly repeated during his trial that he has never committed “the slightest act of corruption”, heard his sentence standing in front of the court, apparently impassive.
The former right-wing president and his lawyers did not make a statement when leaving the courtroom.
The Paris court also sentenced the former magistrate to the same penalty, Gilbert Azibert, and the historic attorney for the former president, Thierry Herzog. The latter was also sentenced to a professional disqualification of 5 years.
The judges ruled that there was a “corruption pact” between Sarkozy, Herzog and Azibert.
The penalties are lower than those requested by the prosecution: four years in prison, two of which are final, claiming that the presidential image had been “affected” by this case, which had “devastating effects.”
Sarkozy was charged with attempting to corrupt a Supreme Court magistrate.
AFP / Eric Feferberg
Insider information
Sarkozy was convicted of trying to corrupt Azibert, along with Herzog, when he was a Supreme Court judge.
According to the accusation, the former president sought to obtain information covered by professional secrecy and influence the proceedings opened before the high jurisdiction related to the so-called Bettencourt case.
In return, he would have offered Azibert his help to obtain a prestigious position to which he aspired in Monaco, although he never succeeded.
During the trial, which ended on December 10, the defense protested against a case based on “fantasies” and “hypotheses” and requested the acquittal of the accused.
Retired from politics since 2016 but still very popular on the French right, Sarkozy has several pending accounts in court.
He is implicated in several cases, including suspicions of Libyan funding for his 2007 campaign, from which he emerged victorious.
This first conviction for Nicolas Sarkozy comes a few days before he faces a second trial on March 17 in the “Bygmalion” case, concerning the expenses of his 2012 presidential campaign.
(In context: Sarkozy, to the dock for corruption)
AFP
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