2023-05-25 10:46:20
Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced this Wednesday on appeal in Paris to three years in prison, including one year to be executed under an electronic bracelet, for corruption and influence peddling in theeavesdropping affairan unprecedented sanction for a former head of state.
The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the sentence pronounced at first instance, on March 1, 2021, against the former President of the Republic, 68, who listened to the decision sitting on the bench of the defendants, his jaw clenched. The latter’s lawyer, Jacqueline Lafont, announced that her client was going appeal in cassation.
Civil rights ban
Nicolas Sarkozy is the first former president to be sentenced to prison, his former mentor Jacques Chirac having been given a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 in the case of fictitious jobs in the city of Paris.
His historic lawyer Thierry Herzog and the former senior magistrate Gilbert Azibert were also found guilty of having entered into a “corruption pact” with Nicolas Sarkozy in 2014 and sentenced to the same sentence.
The Court of Appeal also pronounced a three-year ban on civil rights for Nicolas Sarkozy, which makes him ineligible, as well as a three-year ban on exercising for Thierry Herzog.
“Never Corrupt Anyone”
On December 13, the public prosecutor’s office demanded a three-year suspended prison sentence for the three defendants, who have always denied any corruption. The former strongman of the right contested “with the greatest force” during the appeal trial these accusations, reaffirming at the bar that he had “never corrupt anyone”.
This decision was expected when Nicolas Sarkozy will be retried on appeal in the fall in the “Bygmalion” case and he is under the threat of a resounding third trial: the PNF on Thursday requested his dismissal in corrections in the case of suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.
The editorial staff /Le7tv
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