France's Supreme Court has upheld an appeals court's decision that found former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and misappropriation of influence while he was head of state.
Mr Sarkozy, 69, could be sentenced to a year in prison, but he is expected to ask for home detention with an electronic bracelet, as would be the case for sentences of up to two years.
He was convicted by a Paris court in 2021 and by the Court of Appeal in 2023 on charges of corruption and misappropriation of influence for attempting to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a case in which he was involved. Ta.
“The conviction and sentence are therefore final,” the Court of Cassation said in a statement on Wednesday.
French President Macron nominates centrist ally Bayrou as next prime minister
Sarkozy, who served as France's president from 2007 to 2012, retired from public office in 2017 but remains influential in French conservative politics. He was one of the guests at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral earlier this month.
“I will take responsibility and face all consequences,” Sarkozy said in a statement published in X.
He added: “I'm not going to complain. But I'm not ready to accept the gross injustice done to me.”
President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would aim to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights and hoped it would result in “France being denounced.”
He reiterated his “complete innocence.”
“My resolve is complete in this case, as in all others,” he concluded.
FILE – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves the Elysée Palace after having lunch with world leaders and officials in Paris on Monday, September 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Kamil Zinioglu, File)
Mr Sarkozy's lawyer, Patrice Spinosi, said his client “will abide” by the verdict. This means the former president must wear an electronic bracelet, Spinosi said.
This is the first time in modern French history that a former president has been found guilty and sentenced to prison for actions he committed while in office.
Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was convicted of misappropriating public funds in 2011 when he was mayor of Paris, and was given a two-year suspended sentence.
Mr. Sarkozy is involved in several other lawsuits. He denies any wrongdoing.
He faces a new trial in Paris next month on charges that he accepted millions of dollars from then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to illegally finance his successful 2007 election campaign. Become.
The corruption case that led to Wednesday's verdict focused on a phone conversation that took place in February 2014.
At the time, a preliminary judge had launched an investigation into Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign financing. During the investigation, it was discovered that Sarkozy and his lawyer Thierry Herzog were communicating via a secret mobile phone registered under the pseudonym “Paul Bismuth”.
Those phone conversations were wiretapped, and prosecutors say Sarkozy and Herzog promised Judge Gilbert Azibert a job in Monaco in exchange for divulging information about another case involving Sarkozy. I suspected that it was. Mr. Azibert never took up the post, and legal proceedings against Mr. Sarkozy were dropped in a case in which Mr. Sarkozy had requested information.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
But prosecutors had concluded that even if the promises were not fulfilled, the proposal would still amount to corruption under French law. Sarkozy strongly denied that his offer to help Azibert was malicious.
Azibert and Herzog were also convicted in the case.
