display
Paris (AP) - France's former President Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to three years in prison for bribery and illicit influence.
Of these, two years will be suspended, as the French news agency AFP reported on Monday from the Paris Palace of Justice.
The 66-year-old will probably not have to go to jail because the sentence can be served at home under electronic surveillance.
The judges also sentenced Sarkozy's longtime attorney Thierry Herzog and lawyer Gilbert Azibert to three-year prison terms, also with two-year probation.
The negotiations in court had caused a sensation in France at the end of last year.
display
According to the indictment in 2014, Sarkozy tried to obtain investigative secrets about Herzog from the lawyer Azibert.
In essence, this behavior endangered the independence of the judiciary, argued the prosecution.
The conservative Sarkozy ruled the Elysée Palace from 2007 to 2012.
He had rejected the allegations in court at the end of last year.
He is still considered a leadership icon by numerous supporters of the civil rights, although he no longer has any offices.
The allegations are based on the use of tapped phone calls between the politician and lawyer Herzog.
There had been a heated argument about the legality of this wiretapping.
The procedure is considered to be one-time.
But it is not the first time that a former president has been convicted.
Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac received a suspended sentence of two years for embezzlement and breach of trust during his time as Mayor of Paris.
display
Sarkozy's time in the Élysée was shaped by affairs over wealthy friends, immoderate members of the government or nepotism.
The former hope of the right had started his career as mayor.
He finally lost to the socialist François Hollande in 2012.
After his resignation, he wanted to become president again five years later - but failed in the party's internal selection process.
Sarkozy faces a legal hurdle.
Because of expenses for his unsuccessful re-election campaign, there will be another trial in the middle of the month.
The judiciary has also been investigating alleged payments by Libya for its successful presidential election campaign in 2007 for years. Sarkozy also rejects all allegations here.
"Sarko", as he is often called, even fueled speculation about a possible political comeback.
Last summer he published the volume of memoirs “Le Temps des Tempêtes” (“The Time of the Storms”), which became a bestseller.
Presidents are protected by extensive immunity in France.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210301-99-641472 / 4