Nicolas Sarkozy was convicted of corruption and influence trafficking, as well as having lost his political rights for three years
The former president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced by the country’s justice to three years in prison for corruption and influence trafficking in a case of aiding and abetting judicial decisions revealed through wiretapping. The sentence was handed down on Wednesday 17.
The sentence is the same as another sentence, in 2021, against Sarkozy, who had filed an appeal. This morning a Paris court rejected the appeal.
Sarkozy, 68, was president of France between 2007 and 2012, becoming the first former president of France’s Fifth Republic to be sentenced to prison.
The politician also lost his political rights for three years. He appeared in court to hear the prosecution and quietly left. His lawyer said the former president will continue to try to prove his innocence.
the accusation
The case began in 2014, when former President Nicolas Sarkozy had his phones tapped by justice wiretaps for another investigation into alleged Libyan funding for his election campaign in 2007.
The investigation highlighted the existence of a third telephone line, used under the pseudonym of Paul Bismuth, which the former president used without fear of being intercepted to speak with his lawyer and friend Thierry Herzog.
The prosecution alleges that the two arranged a corruption deal with Gilbert Azibert, a prosecutor at the Supreme Court, who allegedly offered his help in a case in exchange for a prestigious post in Monaco.
According to AFP extensionSarkozy has asked the court to annul the seizure of his presidential diaries, decided as part of the investigation into the abuses committed by the heiress of the L’Oréal group, Liliane Bettencourt.
Herzog and Azibert were also sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, one of which is mandatory, for having entered into a “corruption pact” with Sarkozy in 2014. Herzog will not be able to practice as a lawyer for three years.
Sarkozy is the target of other lawsuits. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested the trial of the former president and 12 other people on suspicion that his victorious 2007 electoral campaign was partly financed by the then Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi, according to information from the AFP extension.
Starting in November, Sarkozy will face a new trial in the Bygmalion case.
Source: Terra
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