French court upholds ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 3-year jail term in corruption case, must wear electronic tag
- A French appeal court maintained Sarkozy should serve a one-year detention sentence at home and banned him from public office for three years
- Sarkozy was convicted in 2021 of trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated
A French appeal court on Wednesday upheld a prison sentence of three years, including two suspended, against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling.
The court maintained he should serve a one-year detention sentence at home with an electronic bracelet and banned him from public office for three years over his attempts to secure favours from a judge in a case uncovered by wiretapping.
Sarkozy, who served one term from 2007 to 2012, has been embroiled in legal troubles ever since leaving office.
In March 2021, he became France’s first post-war president to be sentenced to jail when a court found he and his former lawyer, Thierry Herzog, had formed a “corruption pact” with judge Gilbert Azibert to obtain and share information about a legal investigation.
The trial came after investigators wiretapped Sarkozy’s two official phone lines, and discovered that he also had a third unofficial one taken out in 2014 under the name “Paul Bismuth”, through which he communicated with Herzog.
The contents of these phone calls led to the 2021 corruption verdict.
The former leader contested the accusations and immediately appealed.