On Monday, a French court indicted former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on corruption and abuse of influence and sentenced him to three years in prison, two of which were suspended.
Sarkozy was accused of helping a judge get a high job in Monaco in exchange for information about an investigation into his campaign finance issues.
However, Sarkozy, who attended the hearing of the so-called "wiretapping" case, will not go to prison because this punishment is usually applied in France to sentences that exceed two years.
On December 8, the Public Prosecution requested four years imprisonment for the 66-year-old former president, including two years in effect, considering that the image of the French presidency "was damaged" by this case, which had "devastating effects."
The ruling will also be decisive for Nicolas Sarkozy, who faces a second trial from March 17, known as the "Pigmalion" case, over financing his campaign for the 2012 presidential elections.
Sarkozy withdrew from politics in 2016 but remains popular with the right a year before the next presidential election.
Sarkozy demanded before the court that he be "absolved of this stigma."
The issue of "wiretapping" dates back to 2014. At that time, the use of WhatsApp and other encrypted messages was not widespread, as the former French president emphasized.
In the context of the investigation into suspicions of Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign, in which four charges were brought against him, judges discovered that Sarkozy was using a secret telephone line under the name "Paul Bismus" to communicate with his lawyer, Thierry Ertzog.
The emptying of about ten of their contacts, according to the prosecution, revealed a "corruption intent" between Nicolas Sarkozy and his lawyer and former judge Gerard Ispier.
The Public Prosecution considered that the judge transmitted information covered in secrecy via Erzog and tried to influence the appeal filed by Nicolas Sarkozy before the Court of Cassation in the context of another case.
On the other hand, Sarkozy accepted the judge’s candidacy for a high-level position in Monaco.
"He made an effort," says Ertzog, in one of the calls read to the court, to get Sarkozy to answer him in another call, "I am contributing to his advancement."
The prosecution requested the same punishment for the three defendants, meaning four years in prison, including two years suspended, accompanied by a five-year ban on practicing the profession for Erzog.
Defense attorneys said that these contacts were “mere chatter between friends” denouncing “fantasies,” “hypotheses,” and a “trial on intent” by the prosecution.
The defense attorneys emphasized the complete absence of evidence and demanded that the accused be acquitted.