Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy set to go on trial for corruption after final appeal fails
- It is the first time in the history of modern France that a former leader will face explicit corruption charges in court
France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy will go to trial on charges of corruption and influence peddling after losing his final bid to avert a court case, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.
The Court of Cassation, which rules on questions of law, said Tuesday that a trial was justified for Sarkozy as well as his lawyer Thierry Herzog and former judge Gilbert Azibert.
The ruling was Sarkozy’s last hope of preventing the trial coming to court, and the French judicial authorities have now approved sending the case to a criminal tribunal, according to a source close to the case.
The trial will begin in the next months in Paris although a date has yet to be set, said the source, who asked not to be named. Sarkozy, 64, is not the first ex-president to be prosecuted – his predecessor Jacques Chirac was given a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for embezzlement and misuse of public funds during his time as mayor of Paris.
But it is the first time in the history of modern France that a former leader will face explicit corruption charges in court.
