French former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s three-year prison sentence, including two years on probation, for corruption and influence peddling, was upheld by an appeals court, alongside his one-year detention sentence at home with an electronic bracelet. The court ruling also disqualified him from public office for three years. Sarkozy was trying to coerce favors from a judge in a case discovered via wiretapping, leading to the verdict in March 2021, where he became the first post-war French president to be sentenced to jail alongside his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog and Judge Gilbert Azibert.
Sarkozy, who served one term from 2007 to 2012, left the courtroom without uttering a word, but his lawyer confirmed that they would appeal the judgment with the Court of Cassation, France’s highest court of appeal. Over the last years, he has faced multiple legal allegations, including allegedly forming a “corruption pact” identified through wiretapping and using a third unofficial phone in the name of “Paul Bismuth” to communicate with Herzog.
The case dubbed the Bygmalion case, which led to Sarkozy getting sentenced to a year in jail, will be retried on appeal from November 2023. The case accused Sarkozy’s team of surpassing the legal limit on his re-election campaign during his tenure in 2012 and using billing from a public relations firm called Bygmalion.
French prosecutors also demanded on Thursday that Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign involving the Libyan regime’s alleged financing face a new trial. The prosecution petitions that Sarkozy and twelve others have been charged with corruption, concealing the embezzlement of public funds, and illegal campaign financing, but Sarkozy has denied any wrongdoing.
Despite his ongoing legal problems, Sarkozy still enjoys considerable popularity and influence on the right side of French politics, and incumbent President Emmanuel Macron weighs on his opinion. Former French President Jacques Chirac, Sarkozy’s predecessor, was the only French leader to receive a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for corruption concerning a fake jobs scandal during his term as Paris mayor.
